Gravity Dragon
by verdantflammabledevice
Summary: Jake and company are shipped off to a dilapidated old town called Gravity Falls, Oregon, to spend the summer with some relatives. What will happen when two hidden magical worlds collide? NOTE: I don't own American Dragon: Jake Long or Gravity Falls.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! This is my first fanfic. I decided to combine two great Disney Channel shows, new and old. Enjoy!**

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Chapter 1

Jake was bummed.

His summer wasn't turning out to be as great as he had hoped. Sure, he had gotten to go to Hong Kong and see Rose, his new international girlfriend. He had finally defeated the Dark Dragon- or entombed him for another thousand years, at least. And his dad had finally found out the family secret, which proved to be really helpful now that he wasn't getting grounded for every single dragon emergency.

But still... he hadn't been prepared for this.

He had recently been informed that he would be spending the summer at his paternal great uncle Stan's house in a dumpy little town called Gravity Falls, Oregon. His mom had decided that he and Haley could use some time away from the big city. Luckily, though, after three days of begging, Jake had finally persuaded his mom to let him bring Trixie and Spud with him.

His mom had also explained that he would be meeting some cousins for the first time. They had been staying at Gravity Falls for a few weeks already. She hadn't told him their names, or how old they were.

Jake was still remembering the conversation as stared out the window of the plane, flying to Oregon. Suddenly he was interrupted by Trixie, who was sitting next to him.

"Jakey!" she said. "Isn't this exciting? We're going to Oregon, baby! The Great Outdoors, ya know?"

Jake raised an eyebrow. "You're only happy because you won't have to sleep outside in a tent again."

She scoffed. "Why would you accuse me of such-"

"Because you said it in the car on the way to the airport."

They looked at Spud, who had just interrupted from across the aisle. He was sitting next to Haley, who had been rambling away about who-knows-what.

Trixie cleared her throat. "Well, I don't remember _everything_ I mentioned in the-"

Jake tapped the window, and an image of the kids in the car simmered into existence. As they watched, past-Trixie repeated everything she had just denied saying.

"Thank you, Gramps." Jake smiled as the image disappeared.

Trixie blushed. "You think you're so smart, Jake Long."

"Yeah, Jake," Spud agreed. "That's my job."

Haley decided to join the conversation. "So Jake," she tried, "what do we do if dragon business comes up?"

Jake waved a hand. "Nothing's going to happen, Hales. When has anything magical ever happened outside the NYC?"

"You mean other than the Magus Bazaar, the Isle of Draco, Afghanistan, Switzerland, Guatemala, New Jersey, Hong Kong, alternate universes, sixteen other dimensions, and a dream corridor?"

"Where did Afghanistan, Switzerland, and Guatemala come from?"

Haley waved a hand nonchalantly. "We're talking dragons here, Jake. It's safe to just throw in a few random countries."

Just then, the captain's voice came on the PA, explaining that they were beginning their descent in Bly, Oregon.

Shortly after they landed, they gathered their suitcase from the luggage carousel. They were about to leave, but Haley facepalmed herself. "Fu!"

Yes, the 600-year-old Shar Pei had tagged along. Gramps had insisted he come to keep the four kids out of trouble. Unfortunately, he'd had to ride in a kennel.

They went back for him, and arrived in the nick of time. Fu had just started yelling at the man carrying him away, quickly covering it up with "Uh, I mean... woof?" They retrieved him, and he spoke up as they walked outside.

"Geez, kids!" he complained. "I'm not that ugly!"

Haley shrugged and shook her hand in a _so-so_ motion, and Jake laughed.

"Oh, _very_ funny!"

They looked around for someone who would be picking them up, when Haley pointed. "There!"

Sure enough, there was a man standing a few yards, away holding a sign that said "Long and other dudes." The man had a brown cap, beige cargo shorts, dark brown shoes, and a jade green shirt with a big question mark on the front. He had light peach skin and buck teeth, like a beaver's. He was also fairly chubby, and he had a double chin.

"Woah, dudes," he said casually, and Jake noticed that he had a fat-lisp. "You must be the Longs. Stan told me about you. And who are these two?"

Trixie and Spud introduced themselves.

"Whoa, Spud?" the man asked. "Man, weird names are just popular these days! Like mine! I'm Soos."

"Nice to meet you, Soos," Jake said. "So, are you a friend of Uncle Stan, or..."

Soos chuckled. "I'll explain on the way." He turned to get back in the car, and Jake noticed the back of his shirt said "Staff" on it.

"You see," Soos said as they drove away from the airport, "Mr. Pines transformed his house into a tourist attraction called The Mystery Shack. I've been working there since I was twelve."

Haley gave a skeptical look. "Tourist attraction or tourist trap?"

Soos shrugged. "It's best not to question it."

"It's a whole union thing, it's complicated," Spud said, repeating what he had told Haley a while back.

Haley giggled.

"Anyway," Soos continued, "I work there with a few other people. The uze, you know."

They finally arrived at the Shack, and Jake got out of the car to look at it. It was shabby, for one thing, and it had a sign on the roof that said "MYSTERY HACK" because the "S" had fallen onto the lower roof. For some reason, there was also a goat on the roof.

"Nice digs," he commented.

Soos smiled proudly. "You guys ain't seen nothin' yet! Come with me!" With that, he marched toward the Shack. The kids, not forgetting to retrieve Fu from the trunk, followed suit.

They walked through the front door into a gift shop of some sort. There was the basic stuff- like bobbleheads, hats, and t-shirts- but there was also a collection of all kinds of seemingly supernatural items, and Jake noted that pretty much everything there was fake.

Sitting at the register was a lanky girl reading a magazine. She had long straight red hair that was covered on the top by a tan-and-black lumberjack hat. She had green eyes, fairly pale skin, and freckles. She wore a jade plaid buttoned shirt with a white tank top underneath, blue jeans, blue-gray stud earrings, and muddy rain boots. Jake could see her boots because her feet were propped up on the counter.

She vaguely noticed the group, then started speaking in a monotone: "Welcome to the Mystery Shack, the exhibit of the extraordinary, the museum of the mysterious, the gallery of the-"

Soos cleared his throat.

She looked up, then sighed in relief. "Oh, good. It's you, Soos. I forgot the alliteration for g."

Spud raised a hand. "Was it gruesome?"

The girl snapped her fingers. "That's it!"

Jake noticed that she had a nametag on her short that read Wendy. "You're Wendy, I'm guessing?"

She glanced at her nametag, then smiled sheepishly. "Oh. Well, yeah, I am. Who are you guys?"

"These are my niece and nephew!"

The group looked at a man coming out of a room marked Employees Only. He was obviously aged, as he had gray eyebrows and a gray five o'clock shadow on his lower face. Jake assumed he had gray hair, but his head was covered by a maroon fez with a yellow moon-like symbol on it. His reddish nose was strangely large. He had an unnecessary eyepatch over one of his glasses-wearing brown eyes, and he was obviously dressed for show. He wore a black suit with the jacket buttoned closed, a bowtie the same color as his fez, a white dress shirt, and big light brown shoes. Also, he was carrying a brown cane with a magic eight-ball on the end.

"Uncle Stan!" Jake said, remembering him from his youth.

It was indeed his great uncle Stanford Pines. "How's it hangin', Jake?" he replied. He turned to Haley. "And Haley, we've never met. Jake was just a baby!"

She smiled, then shook his hand. "Nice to meet you."

Wendy frowned. "They look nothing like you."

"Neither do the twins," Soos reminded her.

Jake raised an eyebrow. "Twins? Our cousins are twins?"

Stan smiled mischievously. "Oh, that's right. You haven't met the twins yet." He poked his head into the room he had just come from. "Hey knuckleheads! Get down here!"

Jake realized that the back room must be pretty big if Stan had to yell. That must have been where he lived.

"Coming, Grunckle Stan!" It was a girl's voice.

"Grunckle?" Spud cocked his head.

Stan shrugged. "The kids made it up. It's a mix of _great_ and _uncle_."

"Oh. That makes sense. I guess."

Two short kids, a boy and a girl, emerged from the back room. The boy had a trademark blue and white hat with a blue brim and blue pine tree on the front. He had somewhat messy brown hair and relatively pale skin. His eyes were brown, and he had slightly noticeable bags underneath. He wore a navy blue vest, a reddish-orange shirt, gray shorts, white socks, black sneakers, and a gray wristwatch on his right wrist.

The girl was obviously the boy's twin. Her cheeks were round with blush pink spots, and her hair and eyes were brown, like the boy's. She wore a pink sweater with a rainbow shooting star going in the left direction on it, a matching pink headband, a purple skirt, white socks, and black shoes.

"What is it, Grunckle Stan?" the boy asked.

Stan gestured to the Longs. "These are your cousins that are going to be staying with us. And friends."

The girl perked up. "Oh! You're Jake and Haley!" She rushed forward and extended her hand. "I'm Mabel!"

Jake took her hand. "Nice to meet you." Haley did likewise.

Jake looked at the boy, who was just watching and taking it all in stride, like he was used to Mabel's antics. He realized that they were waiting for him, and he walked forward as well.

"Oh, sorry. I'm Dipper." He extended his hand also.

"Dipper?" Spud scratched his head. "You were right, Soos. Weird names _are_ popular these days! It's even weirder than mine!"

Trixie smacked him. "Spud! Don't say that!"

Dipper looked at his feet. "That's the reaction I normally get."

"Same here," Spud agreed. He and Trixie introduced themselves to the twins.

Mabel beamed, and Jake saw that she had silver braces. "Come on! I'll show you where you'll be staying!"

She led the group into the back room, which actually _was_ a house on the inside. The entryway was a living room that was about as odd as the gift shop. Next to the orange easy chair was a fake dinosaur skull. The fish tank had two shrunken heads resting on it. The owl clock on the side wall didn't seem to be working. Weirdest of all, Jake concluded, was the rug on the shag carpet. _What_ was the point?

They followed her up the stairs to a hallway, where there were two doors. Jake started to walk into the first one, but Dipper surged in front, standing between Jake and the door.

"Don't!" he cried. Then he realized that they were staring at him.

"Oh, don't mind Dipper," Mabel said. "That's just the room where we fought the-"

"The flu!" Dipper interrupted. "Uh, we were fighting the flu in that room just two days ago! It's probably still contagious, so we shouldn't go in."

Jake knew right off the bat that Dipper was hiding something- considering how hard it is to catch the flu in the summer- but he also knew not to intrude on private matters, so he shrugged and continued after Mabel to the second door. It was elaborately carved, and it was so wide that one could easily fit a baby elephant through the threshold. Mabel pushed it open and walked in, and the kids followed.

"This is Soos' break room," Mabel explained. "He gave it up temporarily so you guys could have somewhere to stay. It's like a giant sleepover!"

"This _is _a pretty big room," Spud commented. "But the floor is hard. Could you, like, put down a carpet or something?"

Mabel looked at Dipper accusingly. "Well, we had one in here. But someone made Grunckle Stan throw it out!" She leaned in toward Spud and whispered, "It was Dipper."

Dipper spread his arms innocently. "Well, I'm sorry for throwing out a carpet that-" He glanced at the Longs. "Uh, uh, had moths in it! Yeah!"

Again, Jake got the impression that Dipper was hiding something, but he decided to worry about that later.

"Come on," Mabel said, dragging Dipper out of the room. "Let's give them time to set up."

"We'll be here all week, folks!" Dipper yelled hastily.

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**What do you think? I will upload Chapter 2 very soon! Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm back with Chapter 2! Please review and tell me if I have any flaws or if I left something out. Thank you!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own ADJL or Gravity Falls.**

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Chapter 2

Dipper waited until he was sure that the Longs were out of earshot, then turned to Mabel. "What was that about?"

"Dipper, please," Mabel scoffed. "You're so-"

"Paranoid?!" Dipper sputtered. "Paranoia doesn't make wax figures come to life and try to kill us! Paranoia doesn't switch bodies! And you were about to tell _regular_ kids with _normal_ lives about both!"

"But you're always trying to tell people about them!" Mabel countered. "You want people to listen to you about Gravity Falls' magical side!"

Dipper realized she had a point. "Well, yeah...but-"

"But what?" Mabel tapped her foot expectantly. "You're always talking about how oblivious adults are to this stuff! Now's your chance to tell kids about it! Maybe they'll believe you!"

"Yeah, or think I'm a scared little kid! They're almost Wendy's age! Remember Dusk-2-Dawn?"

Mabel crossed her arms. "Dipper, please. You said it yourself- you have very keen senses of observation. Don't they seem kind of... understanding? Like they would totally believe you if you told them the truth about Gravity Falls?"

Dipper pondered this. On one hand, he couldn't handle it if they called him paranoid. Ugh, he hated the word. Paranoid about this, scared of that. After all, he was _always_ right, or at least his notions were. When would anyone ever realize that? When would he get the credit he deserved?

On the other hand, Mabel was right- they did seem kind of understanding. Jake's reaction to Dipper's anxiety of the wax room hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Maybe you're right," Dipper concluded. "If they're going to be staying here, they deserve to know the truth about this whackjob town."

Mabel beamed. "That's it! Now, let's go tell them!"

For once, Dipper agreed with Mabel. He let her drag him back up the stairs and down the hall. She knocked on the door, and opened it when she heard Jake's approval. Haley, Trixie, and Spud were pulling on jackets, and Jake, who was already wearing one, stood and waited for them.

"Where are you going?" Dipper asked.

"We're going on a walk through the forest," Haley responded. "Gonna have a look around, you know."

"Uh, you guys go without me," Dipper said. "I hate the forest. Creeps me out."

He instantly hated himself for saying that. For one thing, he would sound scared, which was the exact opposite of how he was trying to sound. Also, he was supposed to be the one trying to uncover the secrets of Gravity Falls. That wasn't going to work very well if he was too scared to venture into the investigation scene itself.

"Why?" Trixie asked. "Is it haunted or something?"

This was the moment of truth. Play along and look scared? Or let them figure it out on their own?

He was leaning toward the second option. After all, that's how he'd found out.

"No, not haunted," he lied. "I just don't like it. Rational fear, you know."

Spud shrugged. "Ok," he said, turning to Mabel. "You comin', Mabel?"

She smiled. "Sure!"

Dipper watched them walk out of the room, then quickly made the best decision of his life.

"Hey, guys! Wait up!"

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**Whew! Second chapter done! Sorry about the length of it, but I try to keep it limited to one POV per chapter. Next chapter: Pacifica learns the hard way what it's like to be on the receiving end of a wardrobe check- New York cheerleader style. Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Trixie hadn't expected Dipper to change his mind so fast, but she was fine with it. He seemed like an interesting kid. The kind of kid that spent a lot of time alone, doing something no one else would really care about.

Trixie could relate to that. Jake and Spud had never really been into blogs, so it was a solo thing for her.

Mabel led them down the stairs to the bizarre living room again. In fact, it was one of the weirdest places Trixie had ever seen, and she had seen some weird places. Especially after she had discovered Jake's secret.

That had been a _weird_ day for Trixie. _"Oh, by the way, I'm kind of a dragon. Yeah. Forgot to mention that."_ That day, Spud had said, "After today, nothing will surprise me ever again," which pretty much summed it all up. Trolls? I gotta lock up my house real quick. Chimeras? Wait, I'm almost done uploading my blog. Dragons gone bad? Yeah, just let me finish my homework first. It was fun, actually.

Trixie started to go back to the gift shop, but Spud tapped her shoulder and pointed at Mabel, who was going out another exit that apparently went out to the back of the Shack.

Trixie followed Mabel outside, then heard a _thud_ and turned around. Dipper was lying facedown on the ground.

"Thanks," he said when she helped him up. "There should be a welcome mat here, so it always trips me up. Literally."

She smiled. "Don't mention it."

The other three had walked up ahead, leaving the two of them alone. Trixie looked around at the town closely for the first time. It was very rundown and old-timey, with several unique buildings. She saw a beat up arcade, and a diner built in a railroad car, and... was that a giant tent? With a star on top? Huh. She'd have to check it out sometime.

"So what do you do around here?" Trixie decided to make some friendly conversation.

He put his hand to his chin thoughtfully. "I just work Grunckle Stan's shop most of the time. You guys are going to have to work there too."

"Oh, well," she said. "I've worked Jake's Grandpa's shop before. The difference is that you guys probably actually get customers, huh?"

"_Oh_, yeah." He frowned. "You don't get customers?"

"Nope... Well, there was this one guy... but turns out he had fallen off a Saint Patty's Day float and was in need of medical attention."

Dipper frowned contemplatively, then burst out laughing.

Trixie laughed too. Soon she was laughing as hard as Dipper. It felt strange, to laugh like this. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had this much fun- just hanging out, without a care in the world. It had been dragon emergency after dragon emergency during the school year.

And it felt good to make someone else laugh. Dipper didn't seem like the kind of person who had fun often.

"Yeah, that_ is_ funny," she said. She finally stopped laughing. "But back to my question. I meant what do you do in your free time? _Your_ free time?"

Dipper stopped smiling. "Uh, not much, really."

She looked at him sideways. "Nothing? Ain't you got any friends here?"

He shook his head solemnly. "Mabel does, and they're pretty cool. But _ I_ don't have any personal friends here."

She frowned. "Huh. Well, we're going to have to change that. We're your friends, Dipper! We have to live together. We might as well get to know each other."

He held up a finger like he was about to say something, but he put it down and sighed. "I don't know. I just met you guys, I don't know you yet."

Trixie smirked. "Well, that's another thing we'll have to change. We should write this down, make a list, you know?"

It was Dipper's turn to shrug. "Maybe."

They kept walking, and were so distracted that they didn't notice that the others had stopped. Trixie bumped into Spud, and Dipper bumped into Mabel, who accidentally tripped Jake, so they all fell over.

Trixie heard laughing as she stood up again. Not joyful laughing, like the kind Dipper and she had shared moments ago, but mocking laughter.

She helped Spud to his feet, then looked at the mocker. The girl, who looked about Mabel and Dipper's age- had long blond hair and wore a purple jacket with a short lavender dress, along with a purple belt. She also wore black leggings with cream boots, along with heavy purple eyeshadow and lavender hoop earrings.

"Hi, Pacifica!" Mabel called as she helped Spud to his feet. "These are my cousins and their friends!"

The girl, Pacifica, put a hand on her hip and tossed her hair. "Why would anyone with anything to do with you have friends?"

Trixie decided that she didn't like this girl very much.

"I mean," Pacifica continued, "look at the people you call friends. Your brother has no friends here at all."

Trixie noticed that she didn't use Dipper's name.

"Your uncle tried to take out _Lazy Susan_." Pacifica closed one eye and hunched her back. "Hi! Call me! Meow!" She stood up again. "That weirdo Wendy dated Sir Emo. And that fat idiot Soos has no one. Nice choice of friends."

Dipper stepped forward, crossed his arms, and glared at Pacifica. "Go tell it to fancy Great-Great-Gramps, Pacifica. Oh, wait! Manure isn't fancy, is it?"

"Shut up, dork!"

"Make me, cowgirl!"

They started aimlessly yelling at each other, and Trixie didn't know what to do. It wasn't until she heard Pacifica's last remark when she'd had enough.

"If you're such a big boy," Pacifica taunted, "then where are your parents?"

Dipper stopped yelling. Pacifica started slowly walking toward him.

"Where's Mommy and Daddy? Had enough time with weirdos for twelve years? Shipped you up north for some peace and quiet for once?"

Dipper started shaking slightly. Trixie realized that this was a sore subject for Dipper, and that she had to intervene.

Just before Pacifica reached him completely, it happened.

Trixie snapped.

She charged between the two kids. _"Enough!"_

Pacifica stepped back, and Trixie stepped forward.

"What it _is_ witchu!" she exclaimed. "Raggin' on two kids you met a month ago! Just because you can't ever feel good about yourself doesn't mean you can bring others down with you!" She took another step forward, and Pacifica kept her distance. "What's with your clothes, girl? Thrift shop's 3000 miles _that_ way, hon!" She was on a roll now. "Nice boots. Which kids did you ridicule out of those, huh? Or did you get them on one of Daddy's credit cards?" And for the final touch... "And what's with the eyeshadow? The pad is supposed to last you more than a day!"

Pacifica blinked, then again, then again and again. Finally, she burst out crying, and her mascara ran. She dashed away, tripped and dirtied her boots, then continued.

Trixie turned around to five grins.

"Way to go, Trixie!" Spud yelled.

She shrugged modestly. "I guess those cheerleaders rubbed off on me."

Jake beamed. "_Yeah_ they did!"

The twins stepped forward slowly.

"Thanks, Trixie," Mabel said. "Pacifica needed that."

"Yeah," Dipper agreed. "You could say that again."

Trixie high-fived Mabel, then ruffled Dipper's hat. "Anytime, babies. Mama Trixie's got your back."

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**Well, that was refreshing to write! Chapter 4 will be up soon! Thank you!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Haley wasn't thoroughly pleased with that day's outcome.

First she'd met two more kids she could cross off her friends list. Neither one of the Pines twins seemed to stand on common ground. Second, she had to share a room with Jake. And third, she had been completely ignored practically the whole day. And to top it all off, she had to spend her precious summer here!

She remembered the last thing Sun had said to her before she left. She had sounded just like a mother when she said it.

_"Don't forget to put on sunscreen!"_

Mabel turned to her. "Huh?"

Whoops. She had said it out loud on accident.

"Uh, nothing," she lied. "Just repeating what my... friend... Sun said before I left. No goodbye or anything."

Mabel tried for a smile. "It's better than what my parents did. Hand me a bag, toss a visor on my head, and slap some sunscreen on my nose, and _poof!_ One gift-wrapped Mabel, ready for shipping!"

Haley smirked. "That's pretty funny."

"Yeah," she agreed. "They put a full-on hat on Dipper, though. It looked good on him- 'till he went and lost it."

"Looks like we both have irresponsible brothers then."

Mabel shook her head. "Oh, no. It wasn't his fault he lost it. Dipper's really responsible."

"Oh." Now she felt guilty. Dipper had seemed nice. Maybe he just wasn't much for first impressions.

They actually started into the forest, after having gotten lunch at the diner and seeing the town from the top of the water tower. Haley noticed that Dipper hesitated slightly before continuing. Mabel must have noticed too, because she went back a bit to walk with him, leaving her alone.

Haley could easily see why Dipper was afraid to go near this place. It was dark and eerie, and every sound echoed in her ears. The wind didn't really help. It pushed the trees ever so slightly, which didn't ease Haley's dragon instincts at all.

"Haley."

She jumped back, and only then did she notice that it was Jake.

"Oh." She regained her composure. "What?"

Jake raised an eyebrow. "Ease up, Haley. You're freaking out."

"What makes you say that? Is it something I did?"

He smirked. "You mean other than jumping four feet away from me? No. I can see it in your eyes. When you're agitated, your eyes get the slightest shade of purple. It happens to me, too, but not purple."

"Red?"

He nodded. "Deep breaths, Haley. You're overreacting. Forests are always dark and spooky. It's a way of life. You've got to get used to that cliché."

Far off in the distance, there was a giant _snap!_ sound, like a tree bending.

Haley put her hands on her hips. "You were saying?"

Jake scratched the back of his neck. "Uh..."

The rest of the group caught up with the Longs.

"What was that?" Spud asked. "You guys heard it, right?"

Haley nodded. "It came from in front of us."

The sound came again, but much closer now. Haley realized it was coming straight toward them.

"Run!" she yelled. They took off and didn't stop until they were out of the forest. They doubled over, panting.

"What..." Spud tried. "What was that?"

"Probably Manly Dan just chopping down trees for the old fire," Dipper suggested. "He's Wendy's dad. Let's just go home," he added. "It's getting dark."

"Yeah," Jake said uncertainly. "Good idea."

They went back to the Shack, had dinner, and hung out for a while. Dipper and Mabel taught Haley how to have a syrup race, which she won every time. She just let out a puff of heat- not a whole flame, just something to melt the syrup and make it run faster- and victory was hers.

Finally it was time to go to bed. Stan wanted them to get a good night's sleep for work tomorrow. Haley and the others staying in the room went to bed quickly, and soon they were fast asleep.

Except Haley.

She was certain that it hadn't been Manly Dan in the forest.

Could it be... magical business?

She got up and gently poked Jake. When that didn't work, she swatted him. Nothing. With no other choice, she transformed her hand and jabbed him with a sharp claw.

"Ow-" He started to scream out, but she clamped his mouth shut. When she let go, he hissed, "What was that for?!"

"Just be glad you woke up after that," she said, completely ignoring his question. "I would have resorted to dragon fire. I woke you up because I wanted to go look for that thing in the forest."

He closed his eyes. "Didn't you hear Dipper? It was probably Manly Dan."

"Who lights a fire in the middle of the summer?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's true. Ok, I'll bite. Let's go."

She smiled. "Thanks, Jake."

They crept out of the room and down the stairs. As they left through the back door, Haley tripped and crashed on the ground.

"Let's hope no one heard that," she whispered.

A light went on in the attic.

"Way to go, Haley," Jake commended. "Dragon up!" His body was engulfed in light blue energy. It faded, revealing a tall muscled red dragon. "Come on."

She transformed as well, and they both sped into the forest.

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Haley wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for, so she decided to get an aerial view. She flew gracefully over the forest, but didn't see anything.

Haley tried to remember the last time she had gotten to just float with the wind and be free. Every other time, she had been flying for her life or chasing something, which wasn't much fun unless it was the ice cream truck.

She settled on the ground next to Jake. "See anything?"

He shook his head. He looked around, then up, and his jaw dropped. "Haley," he said, "look."

She looked and gasped. The sky was full of shining stars, interrupting each other, combining into beautiful constellations, and overall blowing Haley's mind.

She laid down on the ground, and Jake soon followed. They laid there for what seemed like forever, just staring and occasionally pointing out recognizable constellations. Jake recognized Orion, Haley saw Scorpius, and they both pointed at-

"The Big Dipper."

They both sat up sharply, not making a sound. Neither one of them had said that. So who had?

Haley looked around frantically. Finally she spotted two figures in the distance.

"Eye of the Dragon," she whispered as quietly as she could, then looked at the figures again. She made out a blue-and-white hat on one and a purple headband on the other.

"See it, Mabel?" Dipper asked. "My namesake."

Mabel crossed her arms. "Looks more like the Little Dipper."

"Aw, thanks for ruining the moment."

"Pleasure!" She beamed, and between the reflection of the stars and Haley's advanced eyesight, she got blinded by Mabel's braces.

"Ah!" she cried, rubbing her eyes.

Mabel and Dipper immediately turned to the sound.

"What was that?" Dipper said, pulling out a flashlight. He started walking toward her.

"Jake!" she hissed. "What do we do?"

"I don't know!" he replied.

"Who's there?" Dipper demanded. "Show yourself!"

Haley didn't know what to do, so she decided to make a run for it. She and Jake both stood up, but before they could take off, the flashlight shined on them. Haley was suddenly well aware that they were still in dragon form.

Dipper and Mabel stared in awe. Then, just when Haley thought all hope was lost, Dipper fell on his back and sighed. "Why can't my life ever be normal?!"

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**Oh, Haley. So confused and unknowing. Anyway, Chapter Five will be up soon, so hold tight!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's Chapter Five! I just want to point out that this is all Season 1 artwork. There might have been some confusion there, so I'm just clarifying. Special thanks to DragonDude23 and Gift of the Dragon for bringing that to my attention. Now on with the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter Five

Dipper couldn't believe it.

He never got a break. From the first week he had arrived here he had been experiencing the unexplainable. No one ever believed him, of course. And the people that did believe him didn't care at all. He was the only one who cared about staying alive.

"Uh, kid?" asked the large red creature that Dipper immediately classified as a dragon. "Are you ok?"

He squeezed his eyes shut. "Ok. Sure. Of _course_ you can talk. Why not?!"

Mabel slowly approached the dragons. "Whoa. This is so cool! Dipper, isn't this cool?"

He sighed again. "Sure, Mabel. Why don't you take care of this, huh? I'm going back to bed."

"No!" She stopped him. "This is an experience we can tell around the fire when we're old and have kids of our own! Do you really want to miss this?"

"Frankly, yes. But I'll stay anyway. I don't want you to get into trouble on your way back."

She beamed and turned to the dragons. "Hi! I'm Mabel! This is Dipper! He's just grumpy because we see this stuff every day."

The short purple dragon frowned. "You do?"

Mabel shrugged and sat down. "Yeah. I mean, this_ is_ Gravity Falls. Don't you guys live here?"

They turned to each other. "No," said the red one. "We're... visiting."

"Oh, cool!" Mabel said. "So are we!"

The red dragon didn't seem to hear her. "So... you aren't surprised that we're here?"

Dipper realized that he was talking to him. He took off his hat and twisted it nervously in his hands. "Well, yeah. For once, Mabel's right- Gravity Falls is a geographical oddity. I just want a break from it all."

"Believe me," the red dragon said, "that's why we came here in the first place."

Dipper raised an eyebrow. "You came to get away from the magical world... yet, you're dragons?"

"Uh-"

"Never mind." Dipper turned to Mabel. _"Now_ can we go?"

She groaned. "Fine. We need sleep for work tomorrow, anyway." She looked at the dragons. "See you around, maybe!"

The purple one shrugged and flew away, but the red one stayed. "I have a question for you."

"Shoot."

"What exactly are you?"

Dipper wasn't sure he'd heard the dragon right. "Excuse me? We're humans, it's kind of obvious."

The dragon frowned. "Ok, then." With that, he flew away after the purple one.

As the twins walked back to the Shack, Dipper couldn't get rid of a nagging suggestion in the back of his mind. _Why would he ask that?_ he thought. _It's not not like we're magical whatevers that can transform into humans. What a strange question._

He tried to forget it, but he felt like there was something he wasn't taking into account. He figured he would remember it eventually.

When he got back to his room, he updated his progress in the journal, then fell asleep.

* * *

He woke up the next morning vaguely remembering a dream about cats. Huh. He put on his usual attire, then realized that Mabel was already out of bed.

He walked downstairs and saw that everyone else was already up. Even Soos and Wendy were there. They were in the kitchen, eating breakfast.

"Morning, sunshine." Grunckle Stan laughed at his joke. "Eat up. We've got a full day of work ahead of us, so get movin'!"

"Mornin', Dipper," Trixie said, handing him a plate of pancakes. "I saved these for you." She winked.

"Oh, thanks!" Dipper grinned and sat down at the table next to Jake. "Hey."

"Hey yourself," Jake replied through bites of pancakes. "Ready to run a tourist trap?"

"Ready," he said, "as always. Stan taught us all the tricks."

"I learned all those on my own. I'll be fine."

They finished up breakfast and opened the shop. Several people came in a few minutes later, and Dipper recognized a few of them. There was Manly Dan, who immediately bought an axe, but faltered when he saw the price his own daughter rung up. The Cute Biker was there, and when Manly Dan raged outside and started beating down a tree, he followed him with cries of "Get 'em! Get 'em! Ah hee hee hee!" And there was _Robbie_. Enough said.

After the crowds were gone and the Shack was closed, Dipper swept while Mabel organized the merchandise. Stan had let the guests go to their room early, so it was just the twins.

"So what do you think about last night?" Mabel asked.

"What about it?" Dipper responded. "Nothing out of the ordinary here in the ol' Falls."

"Speak for yourself. That purple dragon seemed cute. Do you think we'll see them again?"

"If we do, you can go. I'm good. Oh, and take your grappling hook with you."

"Fine. I'll leave you to your sweeping, then." She left.

"Don't let the stall door hit you on the way out!" he called.

"Ow! Darn it, Dipper!"

He smirked.

He swept behind the counter and was about to leave when something caught his eye.

It was a strange bracelet with an even stranger blue charm dangling from the end. It took Dipper a few seconds to realize that the charm was glowing faintly.

He remembered that Jake had been working the register earlier, so he left the shop to return it.

When he reached the guest room, he was about to knock when he heard a loud crash inside. Slowly and quietly, he opened the door.

Trixie and Spud were there, but Jake and Haley weren't. In their place stood the red and purple dragons from last night.

All in an instant it made sense. Why the dragons had been so surprised to see him and Mabel. _Specifically_ him and Mabel. Why they hadn't expected them to know about the magical world. And why the red one had asked him what he was, as if there was a such thing as a shape-shifting human.

Jake and Haley were dragons.


	6. Chapter 6

**Aquí está el sexto capítulo! And to Major Simi and DragonDude23, I hope that tip gave you some idea as to what's going to happen.**

* * *

Mabel knew something was up.

The way Dipper kept a close eye on the Long siblings. They way he kept to himself- more so than usual, that is. And the way he practically lived in his journal. He wrote in it all the time, and he spent hours reading it. And the weird thing was that Mabel had a feeling the events were strung together somehow. But why?

She didn't want to confront him. That would just make him think she was being nosy, as always. Typical Dipper.

Ok, so she got curious sometimes. So what? She was just looking out for Dipper. He always got in over his head. She tried to get him to have fun and enjoy all the mystical secrets in Gravity Falls, but he wanted none of it. Stay away from this, that will kill you. Come on!

Then again, he was always getting her out of impossible situations. In fact, in the first week they had arrived here, he had saved her from a pack of loner gnomes. Then it had been the wax figures, then an even _more_ lonesome child prodigy, then the ghosts, then the police, then the Summerween Trickster.

"Wait, WHAT?!"

Trixie crossed her arms, closed her eyes, shook her head, and said, "Mm mm mm." Spud and Haley fell backwards laughing. Jake raised an eyebrow and looked as if he were suppressing a laugh. And Dipper just frowned nonchalantly and said, "You're _welcome_ for that, Mabel."

It was a few days later, and the twins had long since explained to the other four the secrets of Gravity Falls, although Dipper hadn't seemed too convinced that they had never heard this before. They were in the guest room and Mabel had been quoting Dipper when he was looking through his footage of Mabel and Norman together.

"Seriously, though," Trixie asked, "what did he see?"

"I _saw_," Dipper said insistently,"Mabel and Norman sitting together in the forest. Norman, like a gentleman, had his arms around her. It was quite romantic, actually..."

Spud frowned. "Ok? What's so-"

_"Until his hand fell off!"_

"I stand corrected."

"Wait, what?" Trixie said, sounding very much like Dipper.

"His hand fell off," Dipper said simply. "He wasn't human."

"Well, what _was_ he?"

"A bunch of gnomes."

"Gnomes?" Haley asked. "Are those like brownies?"

"Sort of," Dipper said. "They're bigger, to start, and they have facial hair. They wear annoying overalls and annoying hats, and have even more annoying demeanors."

"Seems legit," Spud said generously. "What happened after that?"

"I'll give you the SparkNotes version." Dipper took a deep breath. "I took a shovel and the golf cart, drove into the gnome lair, rescued Mabel, drove out, and then, ah..."

"They chased you," Jake guessed.

"They were crazy!" Mabel exclaimed. "They all, like, joined together and formed this super-gnome thing!"

"Whoa, intense." Jake whistled. "How did you get away?"

"Let's just say Mabel knows her leafblowers."

"Nice," Haley complimented.

"This was just the first week?" Trixie asked.

"Yup!" Mabel said. "My favorite was the bottomless pit. But that's another story for another day."

"I liked the wax figures," Dipper said. Then he saw the looks he was getting, and he added, "Ditto what Mabel said."

"And of course there's the Pacifica factor," Mabel said dully. "But we know she doesn't deserve our oxygen."

"Hear, hear!" exclaimed everyone in the room.

Haley vaguely glanced out the window. Suddenly her face went slack and she pressed her face against it.

"Mabel," she said slowly, "was that the super-gnome you were talking about?"

Everyone rushed to the window. Mabel saw it. All one thousand of them. Including a very annoying brown-haired one at the top, giving orders.

"Mabel!" Jeff bellowed. "Come out and become our bride!"

Mabel sighed. "Well, he's persistent. I'll give him that."

"What do we do?" Trixie asked. The four New Yorkers seemed seriously freaked out.

"Well, let's go tell him he's a loner and that he should really get out more," Dipper suggested. "That'll be fun to watch."

"You guys aren't the least bit weirded out?" Spud asked.

"Hey, man," Dipper said, "we've stared death in the face, like, ten times. We'll be fine."

Mabel noticed the worry in their faces. "You can come too!" She grabbed Jake and Haley's hands and ran downstairs.

They went outside and Jeff noticed them.

"Oh, hi, Mabel!" Jeff called giddily. "Have you reconsidered your choice to stay single?"

"Ok," Mabel said, "first of all, Jeff, you guys have, like, two hundred years on me."

"Three hundred," Jeff corrected.

"Secondly," she said, "polygamy is illegal in all fifty states!"

Jeff was about to say something, but Mabel quickly added, _"Including_ Texas."

"Dang it!"

"And third," she finalized, "I'm taken!"

The entire gnome group gasped, and the super-gnome almost fell over from the momentum.

"Eat that, Jeff!" Dipper called smugly.

"Well," Jeff said, "if we can't have you..."

Mabel realized all too late what Jeff meant.

The super-gnome grabbed at Trixie, but she was fast. She jumped and dodged as hand after hand flew for her.

"Whoa!" Mabel said in awe.

"Get in the house!" Dipper cried. "Now!"

For some reason, Mabel felt compelled to listen to him. She had always noticed the air of leadership around him.

They ran in the house and set to work locking up. When they were done, they met in the living room.

"Where's Papadog Stan at?" Trixie asked, panting.

"Uh, we're the only ones here," Dipper said.

"Great!" Spud said. "You wouldn't happen to have a leafblower handy, would you?"

"It's outside," Mabel said. "We can't go out there."

"Then what do we do?"

Mabel thought for a while. Then she snapped her fingers. "It just might work."

"What?" asked the other five.

"No time to explain." She turned to Spud. "Are you good at jumping up and down and and making annoying noises?"

Spud stood up dramatically. "My time has come."

Mabel could hardly contain her inner laughter. "Ok. Trixie, Jake, and Dipper- go with Spud outside. Distract Jeff and make him face away from the Shack."

"And me?" Haley asked.

Mabel winked. "You're going to have an aerial view."

Mabel noticed a look of panic flash across Haley's face.

"What do you mean?" she asked nervously.

"We're going to the roof."

Her features lessened. "Oh. Ok."

"All right, people!" Mabel yelled. "Battle stations!"

Mabel dragged Haley to the gift shop.

"Why are we here?" Haley asked, looking around. "There's nothing we can use."

"Oh, really?" Mabel pulled aside the curtain blocking the ladder. "Roof time! Roof time!"

The cousins climbed onto the roof and watched the scene below them. Spud had Trixie in his arms bridal-style and was dodging Jeff's blows. Jake was ramming himself into Jeff's legs, trying to knock it down.

"You ready, Haley?" Mabel asked.

"Ready for what?"

"Watch and learn, young one." Mabel turned to Jeff. "Hey!"

Jeff stopped trying to kill Spud and looked up at her as she pulled something out of her pocket.

The wedding ring. She had kept it just in case it could ever come in handy. And now it was.

"Marriage one-oh-one, Jeff! You can't get married without a wedding ring!"

His face went from angry to surprised.

Then back to angry.

"Give me that!" He walked over to the Shack and started climbing the building.

"Uh, Mabel?" Haley said nervously. "Whatever you have planned, now would be a good-"

"I will once the weather agrees with me."

"Huh?"

"Just wait!" Mabel said sharply. She looked at the sky, which was riddled with clouds so no sunlight came through. "Come on, come on, come on..."

Jeff was halfway up the Shack.

"Mabel!" Haley yelled.

"Mabel!" Trixie, Spud, and Jake yelled.

"Mabel!" Dipper yelled.

Finally Mabel's wish was granted. A small ray of sunlight peeked through the clouds and shone on the ring in her hand.

"Hey, Jeff!"

He looked up. "Huh?"

"Don't mess with my family!"

A pink ray of light shone out of the ring and engulfed Jeff. The whole super-gnome shrunk until it was the size of a normal gnome. It fell to the ground and exploded in a sea of tiny gnomes.

Mabel sped down the ladder and out the gift shop door. When she got outside, she was embraced by a boy a millimeter shorter than her.

"Way to go, Mabel!" Dipper commended. "Who would have thought the gnomes would give you one of those size-altering crystals?"

"I know, right?" Then she remembered the gnomes. "Not bad for a group of humans, huh, Jeff?" Mabel yelled to the now-tiny gnome.

She vaguely heard his reply. "I'll get you for this-"

She picked him up off the ground. "We've heard it all before, wannabe." With that, she held her arm back, lunged forward, and sent Jeff flying.

* * *

Meanwhile...

* * *

Gideon stared out his bedroom window and sighed. Where was he? He should have been here by now.

Suddenly he saw the unmistakable flash of car headlights, so he dashed downstairs, making sure to scuff up the carpet on his way down. He ran outside and embraced the man who had just stepped out of the taxi.

"Good to see you again, _Uncle Rotwood..."_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Spud was tired.

He had just distracted a giant gnome while running around trying to stay alive _and_ had Trixie in his arms. He needed a break.

"Well," Jake said, "_that_ was exciting."

They were in the guest room- the four New Yorkers and Fu Dog. Dipper and Mabel were in the attic.

"Why is it," Fu complained, "everywhere we go there's something magical going on?"

Spud turned to Haley. "You'll have to add 'Gravity Falls' to your lost of magical non-New York places."

"Yup."

Trixie frowned. "Those Pines kids are, like, awesome."

"What do you mean, Trix?" Jake asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Really? _Look_ at 'em! They're twelve, have no magical powers, and have no one but themselves! And they _still_ manage to survive day to day! If that isn't impressive, I don't know what is!"

"Good point," Jake said. "And they saved our butts out there. I mean," he added, seeing the look on Fu's face, "we could have too, but we don't want to be exposed."

"You know, I've been thinking," Fu said thoughtfully.

"_That's_ dangerous," Haley commented, earning her three smiles.

"Ha ha. I was thinking- what if someone figures it out? And by someone, I mean Lady Sweater and Sir Baseball Cap."

"Mabel and Dipper?" Haley asked. "How would they-"

"Well, for starters," Fu explained, "they saw you guys in the forest last week. You asked them what they were, which might have let on more than you meant."

"Ok, another good point," Jake allowed. "But, with all due respect, I don't think Mabel will figure it out. She doesn't suspect a thing."

"When you say it like that you make it sound like we're trying to kill her, kid!"

"Sorry," he tried. "But I think we're safe."

"But what about Dipper?" Spud asked. "Do you think-"

"Maybe," Trixie guessed. "Only time will tell."

"Or one of the twins," Spud said, getting out his daily stupid comment.

Trixie facepalmed herself. "Oh, Spudinky."

"You're saying I'm wrong?" Spud defended. "It could happen- one of them telling us that they know about our secret. They could walk in here right now!"

With that, the door opened and someone stood in the threshold. The four kids yelled in surprise, and Fu barked falsely.

"Hey, guys," greeted Wendy.

The kids exhaled in relief. Wendy was cool.

"Stan wants us in the gift shop," she continued. "Now."

Spud turned to Jake. "Aw, Jake! What'd you do this time?"

"Very funny, Spud." Jake stood up and followed Wendy down the stairs.

When Spud arrived in the gift shop, he realized that they were open for business. He also saw that Stan and the twins were already there.

"There you are," Stan admonished. "I need the seven of you to re-glitter the sign on the roof. Somehow it came off in the last week."

Spud looked at Dipper, who waved his hand in a _tell you later_ gesture.

Stan tossed the four kids paintbrushes. "Now come on. The tourists aren't going to rip themselves off."

"Yeah!" agreed the Cute Biker, who was currently buying a piece of broken glass that Stan sold as a crystal.

They used a secret ladder to the roof that Spud hadn't noticed before, probably because of the curtain. He realized that this must have been how Mabel and Haley had gotten to the roof.

When the four kids got to the roof, Spud looked out at the town. It was actually kind of cute.

"How did you not notice this before?" Spud asked Haley.

"Gee, I don't know," she answered. "Maybe because I was _saving your life."_

"Touché," he conceded.

Jake looked around the town as well. Suddenly, he saw something in particular and was so surprised that he fell off the roof. To Spud's relief, he managed to stick the landing- right in front of a man Spud knew all too well.

_"Rotwood?!"_ yelled Spud, Jake, Trixie, and Haley. Jake stepped back in horror as the other three maneuvered their way to the ground.

Rotwood sneered. "Oh, Mr. Long. What a surprise."

"Surprise?!" Trixie sputtered. "What are you _doing_ here? You sick, twisted, warped-"

"Uncle Rotwood?"

Spud looked past Rotwood to a short little kid with huge white hair, big blue eyes, and freckles. He wore a cheap blue suit and had an ice cream cone in his hand.

"Thanks for the ice cream, Uncle Rotwood," said the boy.

"Anything for my favorite nephew, Gideon," replied the professor.

"Jake?" called a very familiar twelve-year-old voice. "Spud?"

"Trixie?" yelled another very familiar twelve-year-old voice. "Haley?"

The twins appeared on the roof, saw what was going on, and maneuvered their way down.

"Oh, hi... _Gideon,"_ said Dipper through clenched teeth.

"Why, Dipper Pines!" said the boy Spud realized was Gideon. "Nice to see you again!"

Spud didn't understand why this little runt put Dipper on edge, but it worried him. Mr. Magical Foresty Stuff afraid of an eight-year-old? This kid must be dangerous.

"Anyway, Gideon," Mabel said, her voice full of loathing, "we should get going. We have a sign to paint."

"Nice to see you again, hoodlums," sneered the professor. "Come along, nephew." And just like that, they were gone.

"I didn't know an evil brat like Gideon could have an uncle," Dipper commented.

"Evil must run in the family," Spud muttered.

"What?"

"I'll tell you later. For now, let's just focus on the sign, huh?"

And so they did. For three hours they worked in the hot sun to re-glitter the sign. It wasn't a complete waste of time, though. Dipper explained why the sign needed _re_-glittering, and Spud explained why Rotwood was evil. By the time it was done, the two boys were exhausted physically and mentally.

As Spud trudged up the stairs, he heard Dipper in the attic saying some unflattering things about Stan. He heard bits of "penny-pinching, coupon-clipping cheapo" and "go suck a lemon." Very loyal.

The four kids opened the door and fell flat on the hardwood.

"If it isn't my favorite kids!" Fu looked up from his paper and pulled down his sunglasses. "Did I mention you're my favorite?"

"We don't have any food, Fu."

"Darn it!"

Suddenly Spud noticed that the door was still open, and in the threshold stood the twins.

"Lordy, Dipper!" exclaimed Trixie. "Babies, you just 'bout scared me outta my butterfly shirt! What's with all the sneakin' around?"

"You tell me," Dipper countered. He pulled a handful of crackers out of his pocket, tossed them to Fu, for which Fu seemed grateful, and sat on on the couch. Mabel followed him, but she obviously had no idea why she was here.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jake asked.

Dipper rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "For the short amount of time you've been in Gravity Falls, you sure know a lot about this town's mystery history."

Spud wasn't sure where Dipper was going with this. "We're just curious by nature."

"Remember the leafblower?" Haley asked, trying too hard to change the subject.

"Stop."

Spud certainly hadn't been expecting that.

Dipper continued. "One of my big problems- on a list that's long and distinguished- is that despite my skeptical nature, I trust people. I want to see the best in them." He turned away. "Unfortunately, they usually let me down."

There was an uncomfortable pause in the air, and Spud wasn't exactly sure what to make of it.

"Things have been adding up for me," Dipper concluded. "Why Haley seemed afraid when Mabel mentioned 'aerial view.' Why you seemed so fearless- well, sort of fearless- to distract the gnomes. Stuff that didn't really make sense- at first."

"What are you saying?" Trixie asked nervously.

"I'm saying that the Long siblings aren't what they claim to be." He stood up and approached the two kids of which he spoke. "I think that they're magical creatures in disguise- dragons, if you want to be specific. I think that the two of you know about it. And I think Fu can secretly talk and stand on two legs!"

He faced Jake and no one else. "Tell me I'm wrong... _friend."_

* * *

**How was that? And by the way, Gideon _does_ actually have blue eyes. It was on Alex Hirsch's Twitter account. And no, I don't stalk him, nor am I an insane fangirl (or a girl at all, for that matter).**

**Please review and tell me if I nailed it or failed it!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Jake took a step back. "Wh- What are you talking about?"

Dipper took a step forward. "Exactly what you think I am, Jake. Now confess!"

Jake mentally raced through any possible excuses or explanations he could feed Dipper. Nothing seemed to be coming up, since Dipper had all the information he needed.

Not that Jake would have tried anyway. Dipper was, like, a child prodigy. No way could an F-student outsmart someone like that.

To Jake's relief, Mabel stood up. "Dipper!" she said incredulously. "I can't believe you'd just accuse our cousins like that! You're just being-"

"No."

Everyone looked at Jake, who took a deep breath. Dipper obviously hated being called paranoid, especially when he was right about something, which seemed to be always. He deserved to know, and it didn't matter what the Dragon Council had to throw at him. Besides, even if he tried to tell someone- which Jake was sure he wouldn't- they wouldn't believe him. No one ever listens to children.

"Dipper isn't paranoid," he interrupted. "He's a smart kid- the smartest I've ever met." Another breath. "He's right."

Everyone in the room gasped, except Dipper and Jake.

"He's right about Haley and me being dragons. He's right about Trixie and Spud knowing about it. And he's right about Fu being able to- wait, how did you even guess that?"

He shrugged. "Just a hunch. That, and I heard a deep voice when I stopped by to return this thing. Which I forgot to do."

He pulled out something that Jake instantly recognized as his dream charm.

"How did you- when did- uhh." Jake fell flat on his back.

"I'm sorry, Jake." Dipper said. "Now that I think about it, I probably wasn't supposed to know about that. I just got so curious."

"I don't blame you."

"In my defense, though," Dipper continued, "you really have to work on keeping yourself on the down-low."

"What do you mean?" Haley asked, speaking for the first time since the confrontation.

"Well, for starters," Dipper listed, "in the forest last week, Jake asked us what we were, implying that there is a species of magical creatures that can transform into a human."

"Oh." Jake pulled himself off the floor, wondering why he had done that instead if following Haley.

"Second, you weren't scared at all when we took down Jeff."

"Yeah," Jake agreed. "That was kind of obvious."

"And third," Dipper finalized, "you were in dragon form in your room. Not the smartest idea."

"When did- oh!" Jake realized what had happened. "That was when you came to return the bracelet, wasn't it?"

He nodded. "You're smarter than you let on."

Jake shrugged. "I'm an F-student. You're obviously mistaking me for-"

"But not smart enough."

Jake frowned nervously. "Uh, what?"

Dipper smiled devilishly. "You think I'm stupid enough not to record this?"

Trixie's eyebrows shot up. "What?"

He pulled out a recording device from his pocket. "This is great! Once I give this to Shandra, I'll be famous! I'll go on talk shows and run from Mabel in her hamster ball... the possibilities are endless!"

The four New Yorkers gasped as Dipper laughed in triumph.

"Dipper!" Mabel yelled. "Why are you doing this?!"

"Beecause it's hilarious!"

Mabel faltered. "Huh?"

Dipper wiped a tear from under his eye and said, "Ugh. I sound like _Gideon."_ Slowly, he held up the recording device and smashed it over his knee.

He patted hands together to get the dust off. "That felt good." He turned to the Longs. "See you around, Jake, Haley." With that, he tossed the dream charm to Jake and marched out of the room, the broken recording device in his right hand.

Jake frowned again. "Mabel," he asked slowly, "will you please explain to me what just happened?"

Mabel looked at him. "I wish I knew. But I have a question that you asked me last week."

He raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"What exactly are _you?"_

"What do you mean?"

She stood up. "Like, I know you have a human form and a dragon form. But what _are_ you? Are you a human that has a dragon form? Or a dragon that has a human form? Which is it?"

Jake was about to answer- it seemed so obvious. But then he actually pondered the question.

"I don't know myself, actually," he answered. "Hales? Do you know?"

She shook her head. "No idea. That's a really good question, Mabel. I never thought about it that way."

"Well, if you don't know," Mabel reasoned, "then it should be whatever you _want_ it to be. Dragons have rights too!"

Jake, smiling, pondered this as well. Finally he said, "I would want it to be a dragon that can appear to be a human. That sounds cooler. Hales?"

"Same. _Way_ cooler."

Fu finished the crackers Dipper had given him and came up for air. "Did I miss anything?"


	9. Chapter 9

Dipper strode to the attic with mixed feelings.

He had just been right about Jake being a dragon! It should have been a victory for him. And it would have, but there was one thing that held him down.

"Nineteen," he counted. He pulled out a notepad, flipped past the list of times he'd won sports, and marked another tally on his list of magical experiences. It was also his list of times he had been right about them.

He reached the attic and laid down on his bed, taking off his vest, hat, and shoes. He pulled Volume 3 out of his vest and flipped through it carelessly. Mermaids, leprechauns, trolls, Starbucks... dragons.

As Dipper now realized, fate had a cruel sense of humor. Of _course_ he flipped to the page about dragons. Perfect.

He hadn't wanted to scare Jake. He just wanted to prove he was right and have a little fun on the way. No harm done.

Dipper sighed. Who was he kidding? Jake probably hated him now. He had nosed his way into something that wasn't his business, and discovered an amazing secret in the process. Come to think of it, there would probably be an attempted mindwiping for him and Mabel. He'd better warn her about that.

_Dragons,_ Dipper read. _Dragons are not commonly found in Gravity Falls, but they are such fascinating creatures that I could not resist recording my encounters with them. Dragons have the abilities of flight, superstrength, and fire breathing._

"Huh," he thought aloud. "So Jake can breath fire. Sweet."

He read on. _Dragons also have the natural abilities to shape-shift into a human form._

"Well, _that_ would have been nice to know before!"

_Along with these, they can also make doppelgangers of themselves using chi energy, make images of the past appear, and, using a special potion, transform into someone else._

"Those would all be useful powers," Dipper mused. "Except for the doppelganger part. I've had enough experience with those."

Then Dipper noticed something in the margin of the page. It was faded, but he barely made out the letter _h._

Out of curiosity, he turned the page. In the same place, the letter _a_ was also smudged on.

He pulled out the notepad, flipped the page, and recorded the letters in order- S, H, F, W... what did it mean?

He kept recording until he reached the very back of the book.

He looked at the jumble of letters he had recorded. It was obviously in code, but the problem was that he didn't know where the spaces were. He'd have to decode it in order to space it out.

He thought about the vast multitude of codes he knew, and realized it would take him hours to try them all out. Then he thought about the code that he saw graffitied on several buildings around town. After asking Soos, he learned that it was called Caesarian code.

Using the Caesarian code, he started to decode it. E, X, P, E, C, T... it was working!

Finally, he was staring at a group of all new letters. Now it was obvious where the spaces were.

_Expect the unexpected._

"Really?" Dipper asked impatiently. "That's what I wasted my time for?"

He closed the book and set it on his nightstand, but it flipped open to the page about dragons again. He was about to close it when he looked at the _h_ in the corner. Getting an insane idea, he turned back a page. As he suspected, there was no letter.

"So someone left this message for me," Dipper concluded. "The question is, why? What does it mean? Is it going to happen soon?"

Dipper noticed that the sun was in his face, and for some reason he really liked it. He closed the book again and placed it on the nightstand, instinctively laid down on his bed, and quickly fell asleep at twelve in the afternoon.

* * *

Dipper woke up five minutes later.

He didn't know why he had fallen asleep in the first place. He had just suddenly felt tired. Huh.

He swung his feet over the side of the bed and sighed sleepily. Mabel wasn't here; she must have still been hanging out with the guests.

He stood up and stretched, and again he was surprised at how good it felt. He put on his vest and shoes, grabbed his hat, and walked to the door. He scratched his head and was about to walk out the door when he stopped mid-scratch.

He walked over to the mirror, saw his reflection, and instantly realized what the message in Volume 3 had meant.

Because attached to the top of his head were two chocolate brown cat ears.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Dipper was in shock.

What happened? He fell asleep for _five minutes_ and he grew cat ears?

As he watched, they disappeared, only to reappear where his human ears had been. Great. Fortunately, they were the same color as his hair, so if he put on his hat and positioned his hair right, they blended in.

He paced the room, wondering how on earth this could happen. He grabbed Volume 3 and flipped through it, desperately looking for anything that could hint at his situation. Brownies, giants, vampires, the Avengers... nothing seemed to be useful.

Finally he found a page that he had used not too long ago. It was the page about the size-altering crystals. At first he didn't realize how helpful this page was; he just reminisced about the time he had gone into the forest to get one. Tiny antelope, giant butterfly, tiny... cougar.

That was it! The cougar had bitten him! But cougars weren't magical... were they?

Suddenly he heard Mabel pound on the door. "Dipper! Can I come in? It's not like you're naked or anything!"

_Let's hope this works,_ he thought, putting his hat on and repositioning his hair. "Sure."

Mabel entered the room. "Hey, Dipper! We're going to the lake! You want to come?"

"Uh, sure," Dipper said. "Let me get my pool stuff first."

He pulled on his suit, grabbed his things, put them in Mabel's pool bag, and walked out with her. Jake and the others were already waiting.

When they got outside, the six kids got in the Mystery Cart and headed to the lake, with Dipper and Mabel yelling, "We're going to the lake!"

Dipper heard Trixie say, "Did you bring sunscreen?"

They turned the cart around and yelled, "We're going to get sunscreen!"

Ten minutes later, they arrived at the lake. Mabel accidentally steered the cart into a mound of dirt, and the kids flew out as the cart fell on its side. Dipper was the only one who landed on his feet.

_Huh,_ he thought. _Must be part of the cat thing._

"Wow, Dipper!" Mabel pulled herself off the ground and picked up her bag. "How did you do that?"

He shrugged. "Reflexes, I guess. Probably from the wax figures."

"You know," Jake said as he helped Trixie up, "you never explained what happened with the wax figures."

"It's a long story," Dipper said, putting on his sunglasses.

"I'm a Long child with a long story," Jake countered. "I'm used to long stories. Go ahead."

So as they helped re-right the cart, Dipper explained what had happened those few days. When he mentioned the part where Dipper decided to try to solve the case, Jake nodded, obviously impressed. When he explained the part where he surveyed the town for left-handed people, Jake said, "Smart." And when he described the near-fatal fight with Sherlock Holmes on the roof of the Shack, Jake's eyes widened as he said, "So _that's_ why the 'S' isn't attached to the sign!"

After Dipper was done, Jake said nothing for a moment, then said, "Wow. You and Mabel are, hands down, the best fighters and smartest thinkers I've ever met."

"Yeah," Trixie agreed. "You have my praise."

Dipper wasn't sure he'd heard them right. "Uh, _hello?_ Mabel and me? You're the one with the dragon powers! That totally beats-"

"No it doesn't."

Dipper half closed his eyes. "Ok, then. Explain."

Jake shrugged. "Fine. When something magical comes up and threatens me, _bam!_ Dragon up and hand their butts to them."

"Exactly! So you're better than-"

"Hey! You didn't let me finish. What I mean is that you and Mabel don't have any of that. You rely on pure wits and human skill. And you still survive day to day. If you stripped me of my powers- which has happened, don't get me wrong- I probably wouldn't last a week."

They finally pushed the cart upright and Dipper sighed. "Huh. I never thought about it that way. I mean, I guess you're right..."

"Exactly!" Jake insisted. "Now we're settled."

Dipper shrugged in agreement and followed the others to the lake.

* * *

After watching the other five race each other up and down the lake for hours- Haley and Jake in dragon form half of the time- Dipper was bored. He had already read through Volume 3 a few times and insisted on not going swimming. Not that he didn't want to- he loved swimming. Back in Piedmont, it was his favorite thing to do, second to maybe video games. But he didn't want Mabel and the others to see his cat ears, so he stayed put.

"Come on, Dipper!" Mabel yelled. "I'll only beat you by a tiny bit!"

"Mabel," Dipper said, pinching between his eyes, "I told you. I'm not going in!"

"Guess again!"

Dipper turned around, looking for the person who had said that. Jake and Haley, in dragon form, were hovering above his pool chair. They each grabbed one of his arms, flew over to the lake, and tossed him in.

He came up for air, gasping, and paddled over to the shore. He got out, shook his head, sat back down in his chair, and stuffed his cat ears under his hat, hoping they hadn't seen them. "Very funny, dragons."

"You're right!" Mabel laughed.

"Dude, it was pretty funny." Spud got out as well and sat in the chair next to Dipper.

"Maybe if I was wet already!" Dipper yelled, but he said it in a way that everyone knew he was fine with it.

Jake and Haley transformed back to human form and walked over to Dipper. "Sorry, man," Jake said. "We couldn't resist."

"It's fine," Dipper insisted.

"Hey, Jake," Haley said, turning to him, "you want to race?"

"Sure, Haley," Jake responded smugly. "I was looking for someone else to beat."

Dipper didn't know what compelled him to do so, but he suddenly said, "I want to race."

The Longs looked at him. "Really?" Haley asked. "Thirty seconds ago you didn't want to get in the water. Now-"

"Not in the lake."

Jake looked at him funny. "On land? No offense, Dipper, but I spend my free time running for my life. I'm the fastest runner for miles."

Dipper scoffed. "Jake! Quit putting words in my mouth! I never said anything about running! Not for you, anyway..."

Haley's eyes widened. "You mean flying? We fly as you run?"

"Yeah," Dipper said simply. "Why not?"

Jake and Haley both started to say something then stopped, obviously not able to come up with a reason for him not to run.

"Ok, then," Jake allowed. "You can race with us. Once around the lake?"

"Sure."

Trixie held the stopwatch. Spud was the referee. Mabel was the audience. And Dipper was the cocky racer who seemed to have no chance whatsoever.

"And three, two, one!" Spud blew the whistle, and the three racers took off.

At first it seemed like no contest. Jake was in the lead, followed by Haley and Dipper. Dipper was going pretty fast, and he was enjoying every moment of it. Then, apparently impossibly, Dipper started to gain on Haley, and he wasn't just running. He was hopping giant distances from rock to rock, occasionally doing twists or flips in the air. Finally, he passed Haley completely and was neck- and-neck with Jake.

"Whoa!" Jake yelled, impressed. "You weren't kidding about the wax!"

Dipper smirked. "It's what I do!"

The finish line was coming up fast. Jake and Dipper pulled ahead, neither one giving up. At the last second, Dipper rolled and sprung into the air, sticking the landing just across the finish line.

"Woo!" Trixie yelled. "We have a winner, baby! Two minutes and seven seconds!"

Dipper stood up straight, panting hard. He felt like someone had used his head as a punching bag, but he also felt pretty good, considering the situation.

Mabel ran up to him. "Wow! That was amazing! How did you do all that stuff?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I guess running for your life changes you."

Jake walked up to him and transformed back. "Good race, Dip. You got some mad skizills there!"

Dipper smiled. "Thanks. I've never run that fast before."

"Well," Jake said, "you might want to consider-" Suddenly he gasped.

"What?" Mabel asked, looking at Dipper. She gasped too.

Trixie, Spud, and Haley came over and gasped as well.

"What?" Dipper demanded. "Why are you-"

Then he saw it.

His pine tree hat was lying on the ground near the finish line.

Dipper slowly put his hands up to his cat ears and felt them, out in the open.

"Aw, man..."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Dipper waited.

And waited.

He was worried about what Mabel might have to say about it. Especially since she was pacing the attic while frowning. Mabel _never_ frowned.

He was also worried because the others were in the attic as well. The last thing he wanted was judgement with an audience.

"So let me get this straight," she muttered finally. She turned to him and held up her hand as if to say, _really?_ "You got turned into a _werecat?!"_

"Well, I-" he started to say, then stopped. "Yes."

She narrowed her eyes at him, leaned in, and said something he couldn't hear, even with the improved hearing.

"What?" he asked.

Suddenly she thrust her hands into the air. "Cool!"

He wasn't sure he'd heard her right. "Excuse me?"

"I mean, think about it, Dipper!" Mabel was suddenly grinning from ear to ear. Imagine that. "How often does a normal person get the chance to become a werecat?"

"Well, almost never, I guess," Dipper admitted. "But still! What was so bad about being human?"

"My thoughts exactly," Jake said, smiling.

Mabel raised an eyebrow. "Why? What could be so bad about being a dragon?"

Jake sighed. "Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you this part. I kind of, well, protect every magical creature in New York City."

"So you're a superhero?" Dipper asked.

Jake shrugged. "Of sorts. What I never understood was why I'm called the American Dragon when I stay in the NYC all the time."

Mabel's pupils dilated. "Whoa! You're called the American Dragon? You have a title and everything!"

Jake shook his head insistently. "That's about all I have. Social life? Just two friends who figured it out on their own. Everyone else thinks I'm a freak. Free time? Down the tubes with every dragon emergency. And don't get me started on my love life. That's a whole 'nother story."

Dipper pondered that. It seemed like a legitimate situation. If he were in Jake's place, he would definitely be upset with the turnout.

"But a dragon and a werecat are two really different things," Spud said. "Do you know how it happened, Dipper?"

Dipper took off his hat and twisted it in his hands, like he did every time he was nervous. "I do, actually." He turned to his sister. "Mabel, I never told you this part. It was when I journeyed into the forest to look for those crystals." And he explained what had happened in the forest that day.

When he was finished, Mabel said, "Well, thank you for telling me that the first time around!"

Dipper spread his arms innocently. "I didn't think it was important!"

"Dipper, you of all people should know that everything in that forest is magical!" Mabel sat down on the bed next to him. "You could have gotten hurt. I couldn't ever forgive myself if that happened."

Dipper smiled. "Awkward sibling hug?"

Mabel smirked to the side of her mouth. "Awkward sibling hug."

They hugged, then both said, "Pat, pat" as they did so.

When it was over, Dipper stood up. "Ok," he said nervously. "I think I know who to talk to."

* * *

Dipper led them to the cave that he had begun to get familiar with.

"So," Jake asked casually, "where are we going, exactly?"

Mabel shrugged. "I don't even know." She turned to Dipper. "Who are we going to see?"

Dipper smiled and closed his eyes. "So many questions. Jeez! Just wait. Oh, and Jake and Haley," he said, turning to them, "lay off the dragon powers."

"Why?" Trixie asked. "Does he not like dragons, or something?"

"No," Dipper replied. "But I just want to make sure their dragon senses are set to casual. This guy might scare you at first."

"Dipper, you need to get outside more," Mabel noted.

"Every time I go outside, I'm almost killed!"

"Good point," Jake agreed.

"Ok, we're here." Dipper took the lead and turned around to face them. "Don't freak out when you see him, all right?"

They nodded in agreement, and he turned around and walked into the darkness of the cave. Suddenly the cave opened up and he was almost blinded by the light inside.

"Dipper!"

When his eyes adjusted, he saw that the light was coming from giant lights spread out among the ceiling. Around the cave were an assortment of cool things that would have kept Dipper busy for hours. There was a Pitt dispenser, a vending machine, about twice as many games than the Gravity Falls arcade, a handful of beanbag chairs, and a giant chocolate fountain.

And in the middle of all of it was the giant dark brown several-headed bear that Dipper had gotten to know.

"Hey!" Dipper approached the bear. "Multi-Bear! How's it hangin'?"

Mabel and the others came into the cave and stood next to him. When she laid eyes on the bear, she looked like she was about to scream, but Dipper slapped his hand over her mouth.

"No!" Dipper yelled. "This is who I was talking about!"

Slowly he pulled his hand away, and she didn't scream. She finally said, _"This_ is your friend?"

"Guys," he said, gesturing to the bear, "this is Multi-Bear. Multi-Bear," he said to the bear, gesturing to the others, "this is my sister Mabel, my cousins Jake and Haley, and their friends Trixie and Spud."

"Nice to meet you," Haley said uncertainly.

The bear lumbered forward slowly and sniffed the six of them. The others seemed scared at first, but eventually accepted it.

He backed up and said, "Interesting. One werecat, two dragons, and three humans. An extraordinary group of children."

"We need your help, Multi-Bear," Dipper said. "I know how I got turned into this, but I don't know how long it will last. I thought you might know."

"Well, you came to the right place!" he announced. "Have a seat."

They did, and the Multi-Bear sat on a nearby rock.

"To begin," the bear started, "it won't be permanent. Nor will you become a full-on cat. I can only think of two more transformations before it becomes dormant."

"Dormant?" Dipper gulped. "Like, stay where it is? Or become human completely?"

"The former."

Dipper facepalmed himself. "Great. Of course."

Spud stepped forward. "Um, excuse me? Mr. Multi-Bear, sir? You said there were two more transformations, right? What are they?"

The bear put a paw to his chin thoughtfully. "Well, the first would be the tail, I believe." He bent down and examined Dipper. "But it seems as though Master Pines has already acquired said tail."

"What?!" Dipper looked over his shoulder, only to find that the bear was correct- a chocolate brown tail was coming out of a hole in his shorts. "Oh. Lovely."

"Whoa," Mabel said in awe. "Awesome!"

Dipper sighed. "What's the last transformation, Multi-Bear?"

"Those would be the claws," he predicted. "Retractable, of course."

"Ok, ok," Dipper allowed._ "That_ is going to be cool. Anything else?"

"Not that I can predict for now," he finalized. "Just..." He paused. "Expect the unexpected, won't you?"

He winked, and before Dipper could respond, the bear retreated back to the depths of his cave.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Gideon was overjoyed.

He had just filled Uncle Rotwood in on the magical secrets of Gravity Falls, and he had believed him. Rotwood was impressed by Volume 2 that Gideon had shown him. In return, Rotwood had explained that Mabel's visiting cousins were secretly dragons, and that he had almost exposed the boy, Jake, several times.

"So," Rotwood said, looking out Gideon's window, "how do we propose to go about this? Should we terrorize the Pines boy first? Or expose the dragons?"

Gideon rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I've always tried and failed to get revenge on Dipper. But it doesn't sound like you've had much progress exposing that Jake fella. So we appear to be at an impasse."

"Which one, then?"

Suddenly an idea sprung into Gideon's mind. "I know! I know!"

"What?" Rotwood demanded. "What is it?"

"We can do both!"

Rotwood did a double take. "How?"

"Leave that to me," Gideon said evilly, rubbing his shiny red amulet hanging around his neck.

* * *

Dipper was being overloaded with questions.

"When did you meet that guy?" Mabel asked. "He gives me the creeps."

"Oh, I saved his life a few weeks ago," he said, as if he had loaned the bear a dollar.

"And why did he tell you to expect the unexpected?" Jake wondered.

"I think he left me a message," Dipper said. "That or he knows someone who did, because that's the message I found in Volume 3."

"Volume 3?" Trixie asked. "What's that?"

"Oh, right." Dipper pulled the mysterious journal from his vest. "This is it. I found it a week after we arrived in Gravity Falls. I had to go hang up signs on trees, and there was this metal one that was obviously fake. I opened a secret trapdoor on the bark, and there was this weird metal control box thingy. I flipped a switch, and then another trapdoor in the ground opened. This was inside."

The four New Yorkers were silent for a while. Then Haley said, "Wow. So you use that as a guide to help you stay alive and stuff?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I know for sure there are at least two other volumes, and I intend to find them."

Spud whistled. "Whoa. That explains a lot about you."

Dipper's ears perked up and he turned to Spud. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's kind of obvious." Spud waited until the other four had gone ahead, leaving the two boys alone. "You kind of seem like the kind of guy who is serious all the time. You spend too much time worrying about staying alive and you don't care about living a normal life."

Dipper sighed. "I try. But things in Gravity Falls must be different than things in New York, because I'm saving my hide every week and I still have no social life."

"Well, that's the thing," Spud said. "You're the only one who cares about staying alive."

"Thank you!" Dipper said. "I've been saying that since we got here!"

"But the three of us save ourselves together. You save everyone else's lives by yourself. Even Mabel doesn't help you."

"Music to my ears," Dipper muttered.

"My point," Spud clarified, "is that you should chill out some."

"Chill out?! Man, I have freaking cat ears and a tail! And now I think I have fangs!"

"Yeah," Spud admitted, "I guess I forgot about that."

"Oh, well," Dipper said dejectedly. "Let's just go home and forget all about it."

But just before coming out of the forest, Dipper had an epiphany.

"Wait, wait, wait!" he cried. The others stopped and stared at him.

He gestured to himself. "We can't let anyone see me like this!"

Jake facepalmed himself. "Right. Duh." He turned to Mabel. "Any ideas?"

Mabel frowned thoughtfully. "Well, we could say that it's a costume for an attraction at the Shack."

"No, 'cause Stan will want to put me on display," Dipper countered. "We need to sneak in somehow."

"Oh!" Haley pointed to the roof. "We could go in through the window to the attic."

"Perfect," Jake commented. "But how do we-"

"Really, Jake? Really?"

Jake seemed to notice his error. "Oh. Right."

Making sure that nobody was around, Jake 'dragoned up' and flew Dipper to the window. Haley and the others just went through the door.

"So," Jake asked when everyone was gathered in the attic, "what now?"

Mabel raised her hand, and Jake made a big show about choosing her as if they were in school. "Uh... you. Ms. Pines."

"Let's hang out for a bit," she suggested. "We've been up to our necks with magical biz for the past week. We need some R&R, you know?"

Spud raised an eyebrow. "I like the way you think, Mabel Pines."

Mabel giggled, and Dipper noticed that she blushed ever so slightly. "Thanks."

So, for practically the rest of the day, the six kids followed Mabel's idea to do whatever. Spud and Mabel went into the guest room to watch rapping babies on Spud's laptop. Trixie and Haley got together with Wendy and read magazines in the gift shop. And Dipper and Jake just stayed in the attic and hung out.

Dipper, laying on his bed, was updating the journal when he heard a peculiar sound, like rubber hitting wood. And it sounded like it was coming from above him. He looked up and saw a rubber ball bouncing off the wall behind him. He realized that his hearing was _really_ improved for him to have predicted that.

He looked at Jake, expecting him to be throwing the ball against the wall. What he saw instead was Jake leisurely laying on Mabel's bed in human form, but somehow his dragon tail was there. That was what he was using to hit the ball.

"Whoa!" Dipper exclaimed.

Jake looked up. "What?" Then he realized that Dipper was staring at him, and he laughed. "Oh, yeah. I guess I forgot to mention that Hales and I can go partway dragon. I just get really bored sometimes."

"No kidding," Dipper said in awe. "That's really creative."

Jake shrugged modestly. "Yeah, well. Hey, you should try it! I mean, now that you've got a tail."

"No, no," Dipper said, "I'm good."

"C'mon, Dipper!" Jake insisted. "It's entertaining!"

He cracked a smile. "Fine."

Jake caught the ball on the rebound, balanced it on his tail for a moment, then sent it toward Dipper. "Think fast!"

Dipper thrust his tail in the air and intercepted it from hitting him in the face. Unfortunately, it landed on the floor.

"Oops," Dipper muttered.

"It's fine." Jake reached out with his tail and picked it up, balancing it once more. "You must need practice. I was a complete failure the first time I tried it."

And they went on for about a half an hour, just like that.

Until Dipper had the misfortune of glancing out the window.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey, guys! Sorry about the chapter length. I was pushed for time, and I just wanted to leave you guys with a cliffhanger. ANYway, pleasepleaseplease review! I want feedback! I want ideas! I want possible romance situations!**

**Sorry about that. Now let us begin!**

* * *

Chapter 13

Dipper was so focused on what was outside the window that he barely even noticed that the ball hit him in the face this time.

"Jeez, Dipper!" Jake retracted his tail and jumped off Mabel's bed. "You ok?"

"Depends," he replied, pointing.

Jake looked out the window as well. His jaw dropped, and both boys screamed in unison.

"Wha-" Jake asked as they charged to the guest room.

"No idea," Dipper panted. "Just hurry!"

Dipper burst into the room. "Mabel! Spud! Come with us! Now!"

Mabel looked up from the computer screen. "Aw, what? We were just getting to the good part! Spud was showing me this awesome Disney Channel crossover fanfiction!"

"Not now!" Jake surged forward, grabbed Spud by the ear, and dragged him out. Dipper did the same with Mabel.

When they reached the stair landing, Jake pushed Spud down the stairs and ran back to the room.

"Where are you going?" Dipper asked impatiently.

"No time to explain!" he called back. "Just tell Haley to get her dragon butt up here! Tell her something about wind chimes!"

Dipper was skeptical, but he shrugged and continued dragging Mabel downstairs into the gift shop.

"Dipper!" Mabel kicked to get away. "What are you doing?"

"I'll explain later!" he shouted back. "Just trust me!"

She went silent, and Dipper knew he'd called her bluff.

Dipper was about to walk into the gift shop when he heard the voices of two people he _really_ didn't want in there at the moment.

"Look, either buy something or get out," said someone Dipper recognized as Wendy.

Then he heard the other voice, and he almost screamed in fury.

"I'm not leaving until that idiot Dipper gets what he deserves."

Pacifica.

Dipper waited no longer. He poked his head through the stall door and saw the four girls.

"Haley," he called. When she looked at him, he said, "Jake said something about wind chi-"

Before he could finish, she dove past him into the living room, 'dragoned up,' and flew upstairs into the guest room.

Wendy scratched her head. "What was that about?"

"No time to explain," he repeated. Despite every bone in his body telling him not to, he fully walked into the gift shop.

"Tourist attraction," Dipper said when Wendy raised an eyebrow. He turned to Pacifica. "Get out, cowgirl."

She wasted no time running out the door, yelling, "Freaks!"

Once she was gone, Wendy looked from the door to Dipper. "It's not a tourist attraction, is it?"

He sighed. "No. But that's not important right now! Come with me! Trixie! You too!"

He took her hand and ran through the door, Trixie in hot pursuit. "We have major problems right now."

"You're telling me," she responded, staring at his tail.

"Not that!" He ordered Mabel and Spud to come back upstairs, and they followed him and Wendy. They reached the door to the guest room. "Jake! Can we come in?"

When they heard him say yes, the five kids ran in and shut the door.

"What is going on?" Wendy demanded. "Someone please explain!"

Dipper glanced at Jake and Haley, who nodded. He took a deep breath, then explained everything to Wendy in the SparkNotes version. When he was done, Wendy nodded. "Yeah, seems legit. So why are we here?"

"This," Haley said, propping open a suitcase, "is why we're here."

In the suitcase were thirty wind chimes that seemed to glow.

"These are magic wind chimes," Jake explained. "They're enchanted to protect from outside magic forces."

Dipper crossed the room to the window. "And given the circumstances," he said, looking down at the yard, "we're going to need them."

He spoke the truth. Because outside the Mystery Shack was just about everything Dipper and Mabel had survived through, and they didn't look happy. There was an exact replica of the Gobblewonker. There were the ghosts from the convenience store. Even the wax figures were somehow reanimated and looked ready for bloodshed.

"Ok, here's the plan." Jake handed everyone a wind chime. "We hang these outside in different places on the Shack. Normally, one chime would be enough, but this is far from normal, so we can't take any chances. And just to be safe, everyone has to wear one around their neck." He inhaled. "Wow. That was a mouthful. Everything clear?"

"As crystal."

Dipper looked at Jake, who seemed as dumbstruck as he was. Who had said that?

"Oh, yes," said Pacifica Northwest, standing in the threshold of the guest room, hands on her hips. "This is just perfect."

* * *

**Huh? Huh? Wind chimes? AD:JL Season 1 Episode 4? Anyone?**

***clears throat***

**ANYway, please review!**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Oh, yes," Pacifica said, grinning evilly.

"Pacifica!" Spud took a step forward. "It's exactly what you think!" Then he stopped. "Oh, wait..."

"Pacifica," Dipper tried. "What do you mean?"

She narrowed her eyes. "I'm not an idiot. I heard what you just explained to Wendy. I know all about this dragon stuff, and that you're a werecat." Then she leaned in toward Dipper, their noses almost touching. "Wait till the papers hear about this."

Dipper ignored the fact that she had just quoted exactly what he had said when found out about her great-great-grandfather. He reached out to take her hand, but she pulled away. "Don't touch me with your dirty cat hands."

"Shut up!" He grabbed her wrist and lead her to the window. "Look outside, Pacifica. Do those look like people who want to make you famous from stuff that always happens in Gravity Falls? If you go outside, you're dead. The least you can do is help us defeat them."

"No!" she insisted. "The least I can do is nothing!"

"And where will that leave you?" Dipper asked innocently.

She didn't respond. She didn't even pull away. Finally she sighed and said, "Fine. What do I do?"

He handed her a wind chime. "First, hang this around your neck. Then get ready. We have twenty-two chimes to hang outside."

She must have heard that they were magic while she was eavesdropping, because she nodded. "Sure. Whatever."

"Let's move it, people!" Dipper pounded his fist into his other palm. "They bring the fight to us? Fine. We'll give them a party."

* * *

The kids burst out the window onto the roof, each holding two or three wind chimes. Dipper charged toward the weather vane, tossed a wind chime, silently cheered himself on as it landed correctly, then rolled to the side, pulling his tail out of the trajectory of Wax Robin Hood's arrow.

He looked out the corner of his eye and saw Mabel hanging one on the window, admiring how pretty it looked, then holding another one up as a Manotaur jumped at her.

"Girls are weak!" he shouted as he fell.

Mabel blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Not all rainbows and kittens, now are we?"

Dipper looked to the left. Trixie and Spud stood back to back, each facing five or so resized gnomes stacked on each other's shoulders. As he watched, they both swung their wind chimes, hit the bottom gnomes in the face, and ran as the gnome towers fell down.

"Ok, that's the last chime!" Pacifica yelled, narrowly dodging a telekinesis-powered rock. "Inside!"

The kids dashed back inside and slammed the window shut. They fell to their knees, panting.

"Ok," Dipper said, "worst day ever."

"I know, right?" Wendy groaned.

"What is even going on?" Mabel asked. "How are they all back, and working together?"

Jake sat up stiffly, like he'd been tasered. "I think I know."

He walked to the window, opened it, muttered something, gasped, and slammed the window shut.

When he sat back down, Dipper noticed that, for a split second, Jake had red eyes.

"Gideon," he finalized. "Gideon and Rotwood."

"Figures," Dipper said nervously, his tail sticking up with fear. "Gideon can be pretty persuasive."

"And all of them hate you," Pacifica guessed.

"Wow." Trixie mused. "You're pretty perceptive for an airhead."

Pacifica gritted her teeth. "Whatever."

The house shook. Dipper assumed that the Gobblewonker was pounding against it.

"Ok," Dipper said, pulling out Volume 3, "should we make a break into the forest?"

Haley shrugged. "It's worth a shot. We might be able to find something that can stop them."

"Good." He started toward the window. "On three."

Mabel scoffed. "Just go!"

"Fine!"

They burst out again, and were soon in the forest. They doubled over again, breathing hard.

"Where now?" Spud asked. "A secret hideout?"

"Uh," Dipper mumbled, "we don't have one."

Out of the corner of his eye, Dipper saw a flash of light. He looked to where it had come from, but he only saw dense forest.

"This way!" Dipper took off toward it.

"Wait up!" He heard the flapping of wings, and he knew the Longs had drgaoned up.

It felt like hours, but Dipper finally found the source of the light. It was a weathered old building in the middle of a small clearing.

"Huh." He slowed to a stop. "This doesn't seem like-"

Suddenly the same flash of light came and went in an instant.

"Dipper!" The other seven kids caught up.

"Guys!" Dipper gestured to the building. "Check this out!"

"I don't think we should go in there," Pacifica suggested.

"Come on!" Dipper ran to the front door and almost pulled it open, but there was something attached to the door where the doorknob should have been. It looked a bit like a spider, with strange wires sticking out in all directions. Trinkets like dials and meters connected the wires to the door. And in the middle of it all was a typewriter keyboard.

"What the heck is this?" Mabel asked. "How do we get in?"

"I think... it's a lock." Spud stepped closer to examine it. "I think we have to type something in to open it."

Dipper opened Volume 3, skimmed through it, and tapped the page. "Found it," he announced. "It's called a Vernacularly Fastened Door."

* * *

**What do you think? I threw in a little ASOUE for a twist. PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE REVIEW!**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"So how do we open it?" Pacifica asked.

"Hang on..." Dipper read some more. "We have to type in three different phrases to unlock it. They'll probably be answers to questions."

Mabel rolled her eyes. "Well, _that's_ not helpful. Where are the clues? The stuff we have to type in?"

Dipper read again. "I... don't know."

Pacifica picked up a rock and threw it at a tree. "This is hopeless!"

Suddenly there was a large _clang!_ as something fell from the tree branch.

"Woo!" Trixie ran toward it. "I never thought I'd say this, but nice job, Pacifica!"

Pacifica shrugged sheepishly as she followed the others over to whatever had fallen. It turned out to be a laser pointer of some sort.

"What does- hey!" When Trixie pressed the button, the pointer shot up into the air and shone on one of the support posts of the building.

Dipper ran up to it and announced, "There're words!"

The others rushed forward and Dipper went on. "It's the questions we need to answer!"

"Well, read them!" Spud said impatiently.

"Ok. The first question asks, 'Who is Number Four on the list of Threats to the Magical Community?' What?"

Seven of the eight kids looked at each other for the answer, until the eighth one spoke up.

"Move over," Jake said. "I'll type it."

Dipper watched as Jake typed "HUNTSMAN" into the device. There was a faint _click_ sound. "It's working! What's next?"

Dipper turned back to the post. He read, "'Who does Wendy Corduroy wish would like her back?"

Wendy blushed. "Ok, this is creepy. I'll type it, but no one gets to look."

Dipper grudgingly agreed, and Wendy typed it. Another _click_ was heard.

"Final question: 'What best describes Dipper Pines?'"

Everyone looked at him. He smiled, and said, "It's kind of long."

"Just do it."

He sighed, walked over to the device, and typed "ONE PART CURIOUS, TWO PARTS BELIEVER, AND VERY MATURE."

Pacifica scoffed. "Seriously? You really think it's going to accept-"

A much louder _click_ sounded, and the door swung open.

"What can I say?" Dipper closed his eyes and smiled. "You can't argue with the creepy stalker lock system device."

The kids slowly walked into the building, and when his eyes adjusted to the light, Dipper could not believe what he saw.

It was an enormous library. Lined with bookshelves as far as the eye could see, fresh gleaming books on them. Dipper rushed inside and took a look at all of them.

"Whoa!" Wendy exclaimed. "This is amazing!"

"No kidding!" Spud spun in a circle, just staring at all the books.

"Uh, guys?" Dipper called. "You might want to look at this!"

He was holding a random book he had taken off the shelf. The creepy part was that it looked exactly like Volume 3, only instead of a 3, there was a 183,046,840.

"What the-" Dipper asked. "There's a whole library of them?!"

"Whoa!" Mabel said. "Look!"

She was pointing at the very back of the library, where a sort of shrine was built. There was a banner with the six-fingered hand on the cover of the volumes. There was a type of stage, and on it were three podiums, all of them empty.

"I think the first three volumes are supposed to go here," Dipper guessed.

Pacifica sat down and sighed. "What is going on?"

Dipper decided to answer her for a change. "I'll put it this way... Gideon is mad at me for supposedly turning Mabel against him. He also likes Mabel. So he's rounded up everything that we have ever survived through, in hopes that they would kill me and get Mabel to love him. Also, there's an old German guy named Rotwood who used to be Jake's mythology teacher. Rotwood found out that Jake was a dragon and has tried exposing him ever since. And now, he's teamed up with his nephew Gideon in hopes of exposing him." He inhaled. "Ok, that felt good."

Pacifica blinked. "Oh. Way to bury the lead, Dipper."

"Whatever." He walked forward and inspected the podiums. "Mabel, come here!"

She came forward, and he pointed at the third podium. She rubbed it with her finger, licked it, and declared, "Yep. It's dust."

"So the volumes have been gone for a long time," Dipper realized. "But why?"

"You won't live to find out!"

Dipper turned around fast. He knew that voice. It had haunted him in his nightmares, ever since that fateful night on the roof of the Shack.

"It sure is nice to see you again, Pines brat," exclaimed Wax Sherlock Holmes.

* * *

**I hope this has cleared up any confusion as to what's going on. Please review!**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"Wax Sherlock Holmes?!" Dipper cried. "I melted you in the sun!"

The wax figure stepped forward. "Ah, yes. You did, actually. But Master Gideon let us walk the earth again in exchange for your life. Funny, that. We also were reinforced with sun protection. You won't be melting us any time soon."

Dipper stepped back. This evil man was not even human, and he still gave him nightmares. What a creep.

"The Gobblewonker is on its way, as well as everything else you brats ever defeated." Holmes smiled evilly, his unnatural brown eyes boring into the werecat. "You won't survive this round, Dipper."

"Don't say my name!" Dipper ordered. "You aren't worthy enough!"

The figure tilted his head. "Cocky as always. Well, then," he said, pulling out a sword, his eyes rolling back in his head, "let's get this taken care of."

He lunged at Dipper. The werecat managed to dodge it, and he almost fell over from the momentum. "Whoa! Not cool!"

Jake rushed forward and held his wind chime out to deflect Holmes' strike at Dipper. Holmes flew back, stopped himself, and charged again.

"Oh, no you don't!" Dipper held up his wind chime, but the figure easily landed a blow on his head, causing him to fall back.

"Huh?" Dipper held up his chime, but it didn't have the usual glow it'd had before. "Aw, what?"

Sherlock came forward, raised his sword, and asked, "Any last-"

A beam of fire promptly blasted at the figure, turning it to a puddle.

"Well, that was annoying." Haley stepped forward. "I hope Watson didn't have to survive through that."

The building shook, and Dipper stood back up. As he watched through the door, the Gobblewonker was approaching.

"What do we do?" Pacifica asked nervously.

"Wait." Dipper cupped a hand to his ear. "Do you hear that?"

Mabel sighed. "Dipper, you have advanced hearing, remember? It's probably just-"

"I hear it too," Jake and Haley said at the same time.

Finally, Dipper saw the cause of the sound. It appeared to be six distant objects flying toward them in perfect formation.

Jake squinted his eyes. "No. Way."

Haley's mouth fell open. "How did they find us here?"

Dipper raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

Jake went on as if he hadn't heard him. "And aren't they still mad at us?"

"When aren't they mad at us?," Haley mused. "And by 'us' I mean 'you.'"

"Who are they?!" Dipper cried.

The Longs turned to him simultaneously and yelled, "The Dragon Council!"

* * *

Dipper looked closer and saw they were right. It was actually five dragons, and as he watched, they swooped in to the porch and changed to human form. One of them, a tall Korean lady with long black hair, ran over and hugged Haley so hard he thought she'd explode into a giant mushroom cloud of purple fieryness.

"Haley!" the woman cried. "I'm so glad you're ok!"

"Sun?" Haley asked in bewilderment. "What are you doing here?"

"That would be our doing, I believe."

The shortest of the dragons came forward. He was Chinese, and he wore classic purple-and-gold robes.

Jake stepped forward. "G?"

The man smiled. "Hello, young one."

Dipper snapped out of his trance. "Uh, hello? Someone mind explaining to me what is going on here?"

"Ah, yes." The man stepped forward. "I am Luong Lao Shi, Jake's maternal grandfather. You may call me Gramps."

"And we," said another man, African by the looks of it, "are the Dragon Council. We are the leaders, I suppose you could say, of the entire magical realm. I am Councilor Andam, the African Dragon."

The other three- two men and a woman- stepped forward, introducing themselves as Councilors Kulde, the Norwegian Dragon, Omina, the Dragon of Atlantis, and Kukulkhan, the Central American Dragon. The Korean lady introduced herself as Sun Park, the Korean Dragon.

"So," asked Jake, "why are you here?" He earned six angry faces, and he added, "I mean, what a pleasant surprise."

"Once Lao Shi informed us that you had been sent to this place," Andam explained, "we came right away. This place is dangerous."

"So we gathered." Haley pulled away from Sun. "You're not... taking us back, are you?"

"Of course we are!" Kulde said as if it were obvious. "You cannot stay here. It is too magically inclined, and I mean the bad way."

"Oh, and New York isn't?" Jake asked.

"Jake!" Lao Shi snapped.

"No, G." Jake said defiantly. "You can't just take us away from the coolest place ever!" He faced the councilors. "If you're the leaders of the magical realm, then help us stop that." He pointed at the crowd of magic entities currently bent on revenge.

Kulde examined the approaching onslaught. "Very well." He, along with the other seven dragons in the room, dragoned up and flew out to attack.

Dipper watched them for a second, then turned to the other five kids. "Well? What are you waiting for? We never delivered that party!"

And so, with complete and utter insanity, the kids charged.

* * *

It was a fight to the death, and Dipper felt great.

He ran straight into the onslaught, dodging here and there to prevent certain death. His retractable claws came in at just the right time, which he used wisely. He sliced about three wax figures in a row, cut a Manotaur in the arm, and reduced the Summerween Trickster to candy bites.

_What Soos wouldn't give to be here,_ he thought, removing a piece of Homework: The Candy from his hair.

To his left, he saw Mabel and Spud fighting Ma, and Mabel seemed slightly disturbed. Huh. He also saw Trixie taking on Wax Queen Elizabeth II, and Pacifica dodging constant swings of an axe.

He was so distracted that he didn't see the tail of the Gobblewonker flying toward him. It smacked him from behind, but Dipper managed to stand up straight.

Someone stood on the end of it. Someone Dipper was really getting tired of seeing.

"Hello, Dipper," said Wax Sherlock Holmes.

He thrust his sword at Dipper's chest... and was utterly surprised when it deflected away.

"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded.

Dipper slowly pulled out Volume 3, which was glowing faintly.

"_That's_ what happened to the wind chime!" Dipper exclaimed.

Sherlock got over his surprise. "Quit talking nonsense, boy." He swung again, but Dipper parried with the book, using it as a sword.

Sherlock bellowed with rage, and started wildly swinging at the boy. Dipper blocked every one, slowly pushing the wax man back to the edge of the tail. Dipper swung once more, put Sherlock dodged and kicked the boy to the mechanical beast's lower back. His head banged against the metal, and he looked up to a swordpoint.

"This is what happens, Dipper!" Sherlock exclaimed madly. "This is what happens when a foolish human brat gets in our way!"

Dipper took this as a challenge. "You're forgetting one thing." He took off his hat, revealing his cat ears. "I'm not all human."

He extended his tail, tripping Sherlock and giving Dipper an escape. But just as he was about to jump off, the Gobblewonker shifted in a way that sent Dipper flying in the air. He landed on the beast's head.

He quickly pried the top of the head off and jumped inside. It was actually quite large in the head, and he could easily move around.

"Why, hello, Dipper."

Gideon and Rotwood were in the head, just as Jake had predicted.

Dipper stomped toward them. "Gideon," he said, gritting his teeth, "I survived ten times the stuff you could ever dream of. You don't scare me!"

He marched straight up to Gideon, ripped off the amulet, and smashed it under his foot.

Suddenly, the Gobblewonker lurched to the side, and Dipper flew into a wall. His head banged against the steel once more, and this time he couldn't take it.

He fainted.

* * *

Dipper woke to the sound of celebration.

He sat up and rubbed his head, remembering bits of the fight.

"Oh! He's awake!"

He took in his surroundings. He was in an elaborate dining hall of some sort, with fancy curtains and paintings on the walls.

He looked straight in front of him. Thirteen smiling faces looked back- his sister, his two cousins, his cousins' two friends, his dream girl, his sister's enemy, his cousins' dog, his cousins' grandfather, and four councilors. He realized he was at the head of a table.

He rubbed his head again, and he realized that he no longer had cat ears.

"Whoa!"

Councilor Andam chuckled. "Yes, Dipper. You have saved not only yourself, but your sister, your friends, and your family."

"How?" he asked innocently.

Councilor Kulde spoke up. "Apparently the amulet in the possession of Gideon Gleeful held power over everything you fought today. After you destroyed it, the wax figures were reduced to puddles and the mind-control of everything else was diminished."

"I knew Ma and Pa wouldn't deliberately hurt Mabel!"

He gestured to a floating orb above the table, which contained the silhouette of Dipper as a werecat. "Normally, we would not let a human possess such a power, but you have proven yourself-"

"No."

Thirteen gasps followed this remark.

"I don't want any fancy powers," he explained. "I was born human, and I want to die human... one way or another."

"Well, in that case," said Councilor Kukulkhan, "I propose a toast. A toast-"

"To Dipper Pines."

Dipper looked at the person who had said that. Any day before today, he would have raised an eyebrow and scoffed. But now... he didn't know.

So all he could do was smile back at Pacifica Northwest.

They raised their glasses, said the traditional "Hear, hear," and took a drink.

Dipper suddenly felt light-headed, but before he could say anything, he was out like a light.


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey, guys! This is probably the final chapter for this fic. Thanks so much for bringing me this far! Thanks for 62 whole reviews! I couldn't have done it without you! And a special shout-out to Major Simi and DragonDude23! You two have been with me since the beginning! Thank you!**

**Now on with the story!**

* * *

Chapter 17

Jake shot up from his chair. "What just happened?!" he demanded, staring at the six unconscious kids before him.

"Dipper!" Haley ran to his side. "Mabel! Trixie! Spud! Wendy! Pacifica!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Jake saw Councilor Kulde slip a vial of unnaturally green liquid into his robes.

Jake wheeled on him. "You did this!"

The councilor nonchalantly raised an eyebrow. "Did Lao Shi not inform you that this would happen? We had to wipe their memories of all magic they have seen."

Jake wanted to punch his grandfather for not telling him, but he kept cool. "But what about all the other encounters? Dipper and Mabel _earned_ those!"

"Yeah!" Haley agreed. "You can't possibly justify taking those away!"

"And Trixie and Spud have helped along the way!" Jake went on. "We couldn't have defeated the Dark Dragon without them!"

The African Dragon stepped forward. "And we are grateful for that. But we cannot afford to have any more mortals knowing about the magical realm. It is our duty."

Sun reached out for Haley, but she pulled away, her eyes darting around nervously. "This is inhumane! They're just kids! Like us! This is abusing our powers!"

"Haley." Gramps approached her, and this time she didn't pull away. "This is necessary. It was going to happen one way or another."

Jake noticed Councilor Omina pull out another vial, this one full of bright blue liquid. "Councilors. It is time to go."

Before Jake could protest, she threw the vial on the ground. It sent out a blue ripple, and Jake quickly lost consciousness.

* * *

When he awoke, he was in the guest room of the Mystery Shack.

He sat up in bed, looking around. Haley was looking back at him.

"Where is everyone?" Jake asked.

"Probably downstairs," she replied.

"Probably?"

"I know as much as you do."

"Good point." He swung his feet to the side of the bed and stood up. As he stretched, he realized he was fully clothed.

"So it really happened. No one knows."

Haley shrugged. "Guess so."

He sighed. "What do we do now?"

At that moment, his stomach rumbled.

Haley looked out the window and saw the position of the sun. "Let's go eat breakfast."

The dragon siblings walked downstairs, each with the same feeling of despair. No one else knew about the magical world. What was the point of even staying here anymore? All the good times Jake had had here- gone. They were the only ones who knew.

They arrived in the kitchen. Stan looked up from his paper and winked.

"Morning, sunshines," he said. "Say, do you know anything about those wind chimes hanging around the Shack?"

They both shook their heads.

"Huh." He went back to his paper. "Well, I'm going to keep them there. They add a sense of mystery to the ol' place."

They went to the stove, served up their pancakes, and sat down at the booth next to Dipper.

"Morning," Mabel said. "You guys ok?"

Jake and Haley looked from one kid to the next, each thinking about what they knew. Curious Dipper, carefree Mabel, sassy Trixie, ingenious Spud, and rebellious Wendy. All the good times with them- gone.

The Longs looked at each other, then back to Mabel. "Yeah."

She beamed. "Cool! Hey, you want to go swimming later? The five of us are going!"

"Sure," Jake said, and he managed to crack a smile.

* * *

After about four hours of pool time, which included verbal harrassment from Pacifica and sass from Trixie, the seven kids went home. Jake and Haley, still stinging from the mind-erasing, holed up in their bedroom for most of the day.

Finally Haley got bored of being bored. "That's it! I want to go see what Dipper and Mabel are doing."

"Go ahead," Jake said, not wanting to be involved.

"Come with me!" she begged. "Please?"

He groaned. "Fine."

They walked into the attic and found that the Pines twins weren't nearly as bored as the Longs. They, along with Trixie, Spud, and Wendy, were playing what appeared to be a game of golf.

"What's this?" Jake inquired.

"Attic Stuff Mini Golf," Dipper answered. He was sitting on his bed, reading a magazine.

"You want to play?" Mabel held up a golf club. "We've got room for one more!"

Haley shrugged and took the club. Jake laid down on Mabel's bed.

It wasn't until Jake got bored watching Trixie and Spud arguing over whose turn it was that he noticed something. Dipper wasn't _reading_ the magazine; he was _writing_ in it!

"Hey, Dipper," he said, "what are you doing?"

Dipper looked up nervously, and Jake knew something was up. "I'm, uh, reading?"

"Is that your final answer?" Jake got up, strode across the room, and ripped the magazine out of Dipper's hands.

Jake found himself staring at a golden six-fingered hand.

"Ok, ok," Dipper said. "You got me."

"H- How do you have this?!" Jake grabbed Dipper by the shirt, his eyes turning red with rage.

"We faked the toast," Dipper said simply. "All five of us. That's the plus side of being paranoid- the paranoia. From the moment I learned your secret, I knew I wasn't supposed to know. So when the Dragon Council showed up and I saw the look you gave them, I warned the other four not to accept anything from them."

Jake let go of Dipper and stood up. "But why keep it a secret?! I was going crazy with despair!"

Trixie rolled her eyes. "To troll with your mind. Why else?"

Jake scratched his head. "That actually makes a lot of sense."

Spud spoke up. "We didn't warn Pacifica, though."

"Why not? I thought she was starting to like Dipper."

"That's the problem," Mabel said. "Pacifica has to be a jerk. It would upset the balance of the universe otherwise."

"And don't worry," Wendy assured him. "Your secret's safe with us."

Jake beamed. "Thanks, guys."

"People!" Mabel waved her club in the air. "Are we playing golf or what?" She turned to Jake. "You sure you won't play?"

Jake held up his arms innocently. "You're out of clubs, though."

Dipper jumped off the bed. "Really, Jake? Really?"

Jake suddenly got an idea. He muttered four words he would never forget:

"Tail of the Dragon."


End file.
